LSU swimmers Megan Cox, Taryn MacKenzie, Danielle Stirrat, Leah Troskot and Colleen O’Neil each won an individual event on the opening day of the team’s meet against Houston, Rice and Tulane Friday at the UH Rec Center.
“I think we did a great job of digging into the meet today,” swimming coach Dave Geyer said. “I think there were areas where we could have prepared better, but as a whole there was some quality racing today. Without a doubt we will be sharper tomorrow.”
Through 15 events, LSU leads Tulane 139-47, leads Rice 144-39, and leads the host team 111-75. LSU returns to the pool for the second day of competition Saturday at 10 a.m. Things begin with the 400-medley relay and conclude with the 200 free relay.
In addition to the five individual wins, LSU also finished first in both relay events. Haylee Knight, O’Neil, Troskot and Stirrat started things off with a win in the 200-medley relay (1:42.94). The team of Troskot, Knight, Cox and Stirrat closed day one out with a win in the 400 free relay (3:23.64).
Sophomore Jane MacDougall started the night off by finishing second overall in the 1000 free with a time of 10:03.59. She finished first over both Rice and Tulane. Stacey Stanfield finished third overall and second to both Rice and Tulane with a time of 10:05.72.
Cox touched the wall first overall in the 100 fly with a time of 55.34. Gabrielle Pick followed for the Lady Tigers fourth overall in 56.09. Pick was second in the event against Rice and Tulane.
MacKenzie finished first overall in the200 breast with an NCAA ‘B’ cut of 2:14.68. Kari Wray finished fifth overall in the event.
Seniors Danielle Stirrat and Jessie James had a strong showing in the 200 free for the Lady Tigers with a 1-2 finish with times of 1:48.91 and 1:49.85 respectively.
Troskot earned her fourth victory in the 50 free this month with a time of 23.30. Taylor Anderson finished third overall in the event and second against the Owls and Green Wave with a time of 23.51.
O’Neil closed out the night with a victory in the 200 IM in 2:01.98. James followed in second (2:04.46) and freshman Lauren Thompson followed in fourth (2:05.80).
On three-meter, Lizzie Cui led the way for LSU with a third-place finish and score of 250.25. Allie Alter followed in fourth place with a score of 250.25.
Houston
The University of Houston Swimming and Diving team leads Rice and Tulane after an impressive first day with 13 podium finishes, led by Hannah Herbst and Micaela Bouter who captured individual event championships Friday night at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center.
After day one, Houston leads by a score 115-71 over Tulane, and 127-53 over Rice. The Cougars are trailing LSU by a score of 111-75.
“It was a great performance top to bottom,” said head swimming and diving coach Ryan Wochomurka. “This is our senior weekend, we wanted to send out seniors out with a great meet. We talked a lot about this meet being ideal conditions for us. We’re at home this time of year, it’s almost February, it’s time to swim fast. We’ve got some good teams we’re challenging. One conference opponent, one cross-town opponent and one ranked opponent. Conditions are ideal here for us to perform at a high level. We responded well to that challenge.”
A freshman, Herbst had a great first day as she won the 1,000-yard freestyle and set a school record. The Scottsdale, Ariz., native, broke the 1,000-yard freestyle record with a time of 9:57.44. The record tops the previous Houston record of 9:59.42 set by Delia Weber earlier this season.
“Anytime you can set a school record it’s awesome,” Wochomurka said. “Anytime you can set a school record in a dual meet, that’s a special swim. It’s exciting because Hannah is a freshman, she had a rough couple weeks, performance wise but she’s been training at such a high level. This just goes to show when you have been training at such a high level, regardless of performance, good things come.”
A sophomore, Bouter continued her impressive performance on the boards Friday evening. The American Athletic Conference Diver of the Week, picked up her third 1-meter victory of the season with a score of 320.65. Senior Danielle Shedd was right behind Bouter in second with a score of 311.50.
The Cougars started the night with a podium finish in the 200-medely relay. The team of Jasmine Williams, Cameron Balkom, Maya Owens and Caitlin Horner placed second overall with a time of 1:43.14.
In the 200-yard butterfly, Owens set a personal best, 55.39, to finish second overall. Teammate Sharo Rodriguez finished in third, swimming the race in a time of 55.53.
Freshman Eleanna Koutsouveli grabbed second in the 100-yard backstroke, as she swam the race in a time of 55.50. Williams set a personal best, the Orange Park, Fla., native finished in a time of 55.86 to place third overall.
The Cougars had two more podium finishes in the 200-yard breaststroke. Sophomore Ashley Grijalva placed second, netting a time of 2:18.05. Balkom placed third after swimming the race in a time of 2:19.11.
In the 200-yard freestyle, Michaela Hamrick was the highest scoring Cougar. The junior set a personal best swimming the race in a time of 1:51.35 to finish fourth overall.
Horner set a personal best in the 50-yard freestyle. The sophomore netted a time of 23.49 to capture second.
In the 200-yard IM, freshman Koutsouveli placed third overall, swimming the race in a time of 2:04.53.
In the final event of the night, the 400-yard freestyle relay, the Houston team of Horner, Doroteja Bednjanec, Julie Gibson and Hamrick placed third overall with a time of 3:27.30.
“We’re only half way through, we’re still in a tight battle with all three times right now,” Wochomurka said. “This is the same challenge that we’ll have at the conference meet where you’ll have a great evening and you have to get up and go again at prelims the next day. This right now is an emulation of our conference meet schedule that is coming up in three weeks.”
Rice
Sophomore Alicia Caldwell won the 100-yard backstroke to highlight the Rice swim team’s opening night of action at the annual Quad Meet Friday across town at the University of Houston Rec Center Natatorium.
Caldwell placed first among a starting field of 17 entries with a time of 55.13. Last fall the international standout from Sydney, Australia, provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships in the same event in the same U.H. pool with a season-best 54.43. Caldwell then returned later in the meet to finish sixth in the 50-freestyle (23.92) and anchor the Owls’ 400-free relay that placed sixth with 3:30.47.
In the team scoring the Owls trail in each of the three separately-scored dual meets: LSU 144, Rice 39; Tulane 110, Rice 73; and meet host Houston 127, Rice 53.
Other finishers for Rice included freshman Marie-Claire Schillinger taking fourth in the 100-breaststroke (2:19.78). The Owls’ distance duo of Hanna Huston and Anniina Ala-Seppälä were fourth and fifth in the 1000-free, respectively, with times of 10:09.29 and 10:11.64.
Sophomore Kaitlyn Swinney was fifth in the 200-individual medley (2:05.96) and Taylor Armstrong was seventh in the 200-freestyle (1:51.91). Owls also placed fifth in the 200-medley relay (1:44.72).
