The LSU women’s swimming and diving team improved to 5-0 on the year after winning seven events and breaking four more pool records Saturday morning at NAU’s Wall Aquatic Center.
“Overall, the this was a great experience for our program, “LSU swimming coach Dave Geyer said. “To race in a pool where this is so much history and some of the best in the world have trained was great. The fact that we get to top our time off here with a trip to the Grand Canyon will be a memory that our kids will not forget.”
The Lady Tigers defeated NAU, 164-79, and Wyoming 151-92 on the final day of competition. The men’s team fell to 0-2 on the year with losses to Wyoming. The Tigers fell 127-172 on Friday and 112-131 on Saturday.
“The women did exactly what we wanted to do today by not settling,” Geyer added. “Physically, it was a lot harder today with our second day at elevation but they stayed tough and raced really well.”
Kara Kopcso and Megan Cox capped the weekend with victories in the 100-meter butterfly and 100-meter freestyle. Kopcso’s time of 1:01.08 in the fly event was a pool record, her third individual record of the weekend. The junior also finished second in the 100-meter IM with a time of 1:04.83.
Cox took first in the 100-meter freestyle with a time of 56.74. Cox, along with Danielle Stirrat, Leah Troskot, and Devon Dabney, were also a part of the 400-meter freestyle relay team that took first in the event with a record time of 3:50.11
Freshman Lauren Thompson added to the record-breaking weekend with a victory in the 400-meter IM (5:01.76). Thompson also finished third in the 100-meter breaststroke with a time of 1:13.61.
Stirrat added a victory for the Lady Tigers in the 200-meter freestyle (2:05.15) and a second-place finish in the 100-meter backstroke (1:04.21). Dabney and Troskot each also touched the wall second in two events. Dabney finished second in the 200-meter freestyle and 400-meter freestyle and Troskot’s came in the 50-meter freestyle and 100-meter freestyle.
For the men, Alex Linge, Logan Rysemus and Brandon Goldman added pool records in the 100-meter freestyle, 100-meter backstroke and 100-meter butterfly. In addition to his victory, Rysemus also finished second in the 100-meter IM with a time of 58.25.
Freshman Thomas Smith added points for the Tigers by touching the wall second in the 100-meter backstroke and finishing third in the 200-meter freestyle.
Sophomore Jake Markham placed second in the 200-meter freestyle and third in the 400-meter freestyle. Devin McCaffrey and Silas Dejean also touched the wall second in the 100-meter butterfly and 100-meter breaststroke respectively.
In diving, Junior Andrew Suchla notched another win for the Tigers in Flagstaff, this time on three-meter. Suchla recorded a pool record score of 333.35. Freshman Matt McClellan also finished second on three-meter with a score of 291.25.
Senior Allie Alter wrapped up the weekend with a second-place finish on one-meter with a score of 275.40 for the Lady Tigers.
“The weekend and experience was good,” LSU diving coach Doug Shaffer said. “It was a nice environment to step in to. I saw a lot of really positive things when it came to our presence, routine and the way we went about competition and supporting our teammates. We have some things we need to improve on but that’s expected at this particular time and point in season.”
The full squad returns to Baton Rouge for a full week of training before returning to action Saturday, November 7, against SMU. The dual meet against the Mustangs begins at 12 p.m. at the LSU Natatorium.
Northern Arizona
The Northern Arizona swimming & diving team posted three overall event victories on Saturday to close out their first weekend of the regular season. Senior Kendall Brown (400m freestyle), senior Chelsea Jackson (1-meter diving) and junior Urte Kazakeviciute (100m breaststroke) bested all of their competitors from LSU and Wyoming as NAU fell in its two dual meets, 144-99 to Wyoming and 164-79 to LSU, in the Wall Aquatic Center.
“(Kendall, Chelsea and Urte) were the standouts and when you can get overall wins, that’s a great place for these athletes to be in at this time of year,” said head coach Andy Johns. “Today was a little rougher for the swimmers than yesterday, but there are a lot of signs to be encouraged moving forward. We’ll do some analysis of how we did this weekend to get better, and overall I liked the spirit and the energy. They never stopped competing and there are a lot of bright spots.”
Brown secured her third overall win in the last two days winning the 400m free with a time of 4:27.50. However, it could be argued her best swim of the day came in a race she took second overall in the 400 individual medley. In what was a photo finish right up to the touch pad, Brown was beat by LSU’s Lauren Thompson by .14 seconds. Brown’s finishing time of 5:01.90 would have been the pool record by two and a half seconds if not for Thompson’s just slightly faster time of 5:01.76.
Kazakeviciute won the day’s final individual swimming event holding off a hard-charging Molly Coonce from Wyoming by .02 seconds. Kazakeviciute, who placed second in the 200m breast on Friday, won the 100m breast on Saturday with a time of 1:13.58.
The NAU divers once again performed well on the 1-meter springboard led by Jackson’s winning effort. She bested LSU’s Allie Alter by almost six points, winning the event with a score of 281.10 which assures Jackson her fourth NCAA Zone E appearance at the end of the season. Junior Alexa Geiger followed her second overall finish on 3-meter on Friday with a third-place overall finish on 1-meter with a score of 272.75. Geiger earned her second NCAA Zone qualifying score of the weekend.
“We did some great things all the way through the weekend in our first meet,” said diving coach Nikki Huffman. “Chelsea Jackson won today against an SEC school and a strong Mountain West program and that was awesome. She qualified for Zones and Lex qualified on 1- and 3-meter, so that was great. Most of our new dives went well, and it’s nice to see us perform well even as we’re raising our level of difficulty. I’m happy with the entire team and they stepped up even when things weren’t going well.”
The Lumberjacks also had standout performances in the 200m free with sophomores Claire Hammond and Kimmy Richter completing a one-two finish against Wyoming. Hammond posted a time of 2:07.88, good for third overall, and Richter placed fifth overall with a time of 2:08.23. In the 100m butterfly, sophomore Alina Staffeldt placed third overall with a time of 1:03.73 and Richter recorded her second top five finish of the day with a time of 1:05.26.
In the final relay of the day – the 400m free relay – NAU’s ‘A’ team placed third overall. The quartet of Hammond, Staffeldt, junior Hayley Edmond and sophomore Roni Houck recorded a time of 3:58.12 to cap off two outstanding days of swimming that featured a total of 32 pool records broken between the men’s and women’s teams.
In what could be the final meet ever in the Wall Aquatic Center, the level of competition was a stellar way to send the pool out – especially with a highly competitive men’s meet – should that be the case.
“This was perfect because it kind of came full circle,” Johns said. “Watching these guys race really helps our girls understand what is possible. For me personally, having coached men, it was great to see this pool really rocking. It was great for our community of young male swimmers at the club and high school level to see what is possible in this sport.”
With Saturday’s diving added to Friday’s scores, LSU defeated NAU 204-96 last night. NAU also narrowly dropped a 156-144 decision to Wyoming. LSU also defeated Wyoming on the women’s side on both days by a 189-111 margin on Friday and 151-92 on Saturday.
Wyoming got revenge on the men’s side, posting a 172-127 win over LSU on Friday and 131-112 on Saturday.
NAU has the next week off before it competes in another double dual in Laramie, Wyo. The ‘Jacks will see this same Wyoming squad once again as well as Air Force on Nov. 13. NAU will then compete against WAC foe Northern Colorado the following day on Nov. 14.
