The LSU swimming team swept Notre Dame Wednesday afternoon at the Schlesinger Aquatics Center. The No. 21-ranked Tiger men posted a dominating 167-95 victory over the No. 22-ranked Irish, while the No. 24-ranked Lady Tiger women won by a 142-120 score.
The win improves the Tiger men’s dual-meet record to 4-2 and puts the Tigers on a three-meet win streak. The Lady Tiger women improved to 5-1 and pushed its meet-win streak to four. The men are now 2-0 all time against the Irish. It was the first meeting for the women.
The Tigers claimed the first place finishes in 19 of the 28 events and swept the relays. The men’s squad claimed victory in 11 of 14 events, while the women capture 8 of 14.
“The men came out and controlled the meet throughout,” said LSU head coach Adam Schmitt. “We had a good range of everybody contributing for the guys.”
“On the women’s side, both teams had some good athletes and it was a back-and-fourth meet. It was similar to a boxing match where each side was countering the other to try and gain points.”
Schmitt was particularly complimentary of freshman Kannon Betzen who helped secure the sweep with her first place finish in the 200 IM. The Hobbs, New Mexico, native posted a career-best time of 2:04.41, toping her old best of 2:04.63 that she posted at the Georgia Tech Invitational. Betzen also took the top spot in the 100 breaststroke (1:04.29.)
Junior Julius Gloeckner highlighted the men’s side by winning all three of his events. The three-time All-American first captured the 200 free (1:41.43). Next he came out victorious in the 200 butterfly (1:50.59). Gloeckner capped off the day with an impressive win (1:53.03) in the 200 IM.
Along with Betzen and Gloeckner, junior captain Katie Gilmore and freshman Luis Gonzales picked up multiple first-place finishes. Gilmore notched the top spot in the 50 free (23.80) and the 100 fly (57.07). Gonzales victories came in the 1000 (9:25.44) and 500 (4:37.83) free.
In the 100 backstroke, junior Monica McJunkin finished first by clocking in at 57.51. The LSU men claimed a 1-2 finish with Kevin Braud and Hannes Heyl posting times of 50.61 and 51.78, respectively.
The men also captured a 1-2 finish in the 50 free with Miko Malberg (21.37), followed by Heyl (21.41).
In the 200 breaststroke, junior Victoria Givens (2:21.50) and sophomore Nate Telep (2:05.91) finished first in their respective events.
Junior Christoph Lubenau’s time of 50.53 in the 100 fly put him in first place.
In relay competition, The Lady Tiger team of McJunkin, Betzen, Gilmore and Katherine Noland won the 200 medley relay by clocking in at 1:44.35. The men’s squad also came out on top in the 200 medley relay with the team of Heyl, Roy Chambers, Lubenau and Malberg (1:32.95).
For the 200 freestyle relay, LSU finished first on both sides with the women’s team of Gilmore, Noland, Jane Trapp and McJunkin (1:35.12) and the men’s team of Malberg, Brandon Selts, James Meyers and Gloeckner (1:25.77).
The LSU swimming team will also be in Florida for its next competition when it travels to Tallahassee, Fla. on Friday, Jan. 11, to take on Florida State.
