In a balanced effort, the LSU men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams combined to win 25 of 32 events to defeat SMU Saturday afternoon at the LSU Natatorium.
The women’s team defeated No. 21 SMU 187-103 to improve to 6-0 on the year. The men’s team earned its first win of the season with a 197-103 victory over the Mustangs.
“I really liked the response from our men to start out the meet. They all did what they needed to do and the depth really made a difference today,” LSU swimming coach Dave Geyer said. “For the women, they are having fun right now and it is a very important aspect of their dynamic. There is so much development within our roster from our freshmen to the upperclassmen.”
Junior Devon Dabney swept the distance events for the Lady Tigers. Dabney opened the individual events with a victory in the 1000 free with a time of 10:00.65. The Georgia native also touched the wall first in the 500 free with a time of 4:57.87.
Senior Megan Cox also swept the 100 and 200 freestyle events against SMU. Cox took first in the 200 free (1:47.97) and 100 free (50.43). Cox also finished third in the 200 IM with a time of 2:04.85.
Diver Cassie Weil swept the one-meter and three-meter springboard events for the Lady Tigers. Weil accounted for 18 points on the day with scores of 265.88 on one-meter and 345.30 on three-meter.
Additionally, Kara Kopcso, Leah Troskot, Caley Oquist, Danielle Stirrat and Sophie Weber provided wins for the women’s team in their events. Kopcso finished first in the 200 fly with a time of 1:58.86. Troskot and Oquist took first in the 50 free (23.40) and 100 back (56.17) respectively. Stirrat and Weber rounded out the group wins in the 200 IM and 200 back.
In addition to the individual wins, both relay teams took victories to open and close the meet. The team of Oquist, Colleen O’Neil, Kopcso and Troskot finished first with a time of 1:41.65 in the 200-medley relay. The team of Troskot, Kate Zimmer, Haylee Knight and Stirrat ended with a win in the 400-freestyle relay with a time of 3:24.80.
On the men’s side, Logan Rysemus and Brandon Goldman each won two individual events. Rysemus shined with victories in the 100 fly (48.57) and 100 back (48.93). Goldman won the 200 fly (1:48.02), the 200 IM (1:49.69) and also finished second in the 200 back (1:47.16). The juniors also teamed up with Silas Dejean and Alex Linge to win the 200-medley relay.
Andrew Suchla provided a win on three-meter with a score of 354 and finished second on one-meter with a score of 287.18. Freshmen Matthew Phillip and Matthew McClellan added third-place finishes on three-meter and one-meter respectively.
Senior Alex Linge also earned points for the Tigers with a win in the 100 free (45.04) and third-place finish in the 100 fly (50.40). Junior Garrett House added a victory in the 200 breast with a time of 2:03.48. Sophomore Joao Mescolote was also victorious in the 50 free for the Tigers.
The freshmen once again stood out with memorable performances for the men. Thomas Smith took first in the 200 back with a time of 1:46.74 and finished second in the 200 IM with a time of 1:52.20. Alarii Levreault-Lopez touched the wall second in the 1000 free (9:40.70) and 200 fly (1:51.00).
The team of Linge, Markham, Tyler Harper and Devin McCaffrey closed out the victory with a win in the 400 freestyle relay with a time of 3:03.10.
The team takes next weekend off from competition before heading to College Station, Texas for the Texas A&M Invite Nov. 19-21. The midseason meet is set up to be one of the fastest in the country with teams from Stanford, TCU and Arizona State participating.
SMU Men
Freshman Lucas Schenke posted a pair of event wins to lead the Mustangs in a dual loss at LSU on Saturday afternoon in the LSU Natatorium. Schenke’s wins were two of three swimming victories for the Mustangs, with sophomore Christian Scherubl winning the other. Sophomore Bryce Klein picked up the fourth event win in 1-meter diving.
“Lucas did a nice job today, and he is showing great signs of improvement,” head coach Eddie Sinnott said. “He had not competed in short course since coming over from Germany, so he is showing that his practice is showing off in his races. He swam really well.”
Schenke impressed in the 1,000-yard freestyle, as he posted a career-best 9:33.56 to win the event and score top points for the Mustangs. Senior Eastman Holloway and freshman Aaron Schlemovitz also scored for the Mustangs placing third and fourth, respectively, and freshman John Lindros rounded out the Mustang group finishing fifth.
Schenke also took the top spot in the 500 free, narrowly out-touching teammate Christian Scherubl. Schenke posted a 4:38.27, while Scherubl clocked in at 4:38.91.
SMU’s second win on the day came from reigning American Athletic Conference Swimmer of the Week Scherubl. The Austria native paced the competition in the 200-yard freestyle scoring maximum points with a 1:40.51 time. Freshman Carson Klein also posted a top-three time in the event, touching the wall in 1:42.67 to add to the team total.
Sophomore Bartosz Krzyzaniak was the Mustangs’ top scorer in the 100-yard backstroke, earning runner-up honors as one of only two swimmers to clock in under the 50-second mark at 49.56. In the 200, transfer Brandon Norman place third, with a 1:53.68.
In diving action, Klein won his second-straight 1-meter event posting a total score of 363.60, and was the runner-up in 3-meter at 341.70. Both scores meet NCAA Zone qualification standards.
The Ponies return to the pool Nov. 19-21 for the Texas A&M Invite. Check SMUMustangs.com for a live results link, and follow the program on social media for updates.
“The TCU and LSU meets have been great race practice in prep for the A&M invite in two weeks,” Sinnott said. “Our goal is to keep improving on our races.”
SMU Women
The SMU women’s swimming and diving team fell in dual action to LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Saturday afternoon at the LSU Natatorium.
"We lost to a very strong team today," head coach Steve Collins said. "I was happy to see our team improve in a lot of races, and we did a lot of good things as a team. We are looking forward to a great meet with Tulane on Sunday."
SMU’s first win of the event came from Tara-Lynn Nicholas who won her third-straight 100-yard breaststroke race in dual action. The junior turned in a 1:02.23 to top the competition and stay under the NCAA ‘B’ standard. The Mustangs also earned maximum points in the 100-yard butterfly from Marne Erasmus. Erasmus was over a second ahead of her LSU competition, finishing in 54.25 for the win and the ‘B’ standard.
Nicholas also went on to win the 200-yard breaststroke in a time of 2:16.59, just .10 seconds ahead of Colleen O’Neil of LSU.
Two-time American Athletic Conference Swimmer of the Week Maddie Hoch continued to lead the Mustangs in middle distance events, placing second in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:50.21. Vicky Cunningham wasn’t far behind in the event as she picked up third-place points touching in 1:51.22.
Hoch also posted the second fastest time in the 500 distance, touching the wall in 4:58.67 as one of just two swimmers to break the 5:00 mark.
In the closing relay, SMU clocked a season-best 3:25.46 as Hoch, Erasmus, Adri Santa and Cunningham finished second, less than a second being LSU’s ‘A’ relay that finished in 3:24.80. The 200-yard medley relay group of Tiffany Sudarma, Nicholas, Erasmus and Hannah Rogers opened the event with a second-place finish clocking a 1:43.47. Nicholas posted the fastest split in the breaststroke leg of the race at 28.12, as she did in both relays last weekend as well.
In diving action, Madeline Wainman earned the highest finish for the Mustangs, placing fifth in the 3-meter event. She followed that up with a sixth place finish in the 1-meter. Teammate Lauren Lamb finished seventh in both events.
The Mustangs are back in action on Sunday when they travel southeast to New Orleans to face American Athletic Conference opponent Tulane. Follow the action on the Meet Mobile app starting at 10 a.m. CT.
