Auburn picked up a pair of road victories by using superior depth against LSU in Baton Rouge on Friday.
Auburn Press Release
Another dual meet, another sweep. For the third time in three tries, Auburn’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving programs both posted dual meet wins on Friday, traveling to Baton Rouge and defeating conference foe LSU. The 10th-ranked women’s team won 162-138 while the No. 10 men’s team won 153-147.
“I’m really proud of the way the team responded to adversity today,” Auburn head coach Brett Hawke said. “It was one of those fourth-quarter comebacks that you have in football. We were definitely tested but we stuck together, found a way to win some close races at the end and come away with the win.”
Auburn found itself in a battle throughout the night as it won eight events in the men’s lanes and eight in the women’s lanes.
“The theme today was versatility,” associate head coach Lauren Hancock said. “(Assistant coach) Tyler (McGill) addressed the team after the meet and asked anyone who got fourth or fifth-place today to raise their hand. We had more people get fourth or fifth place than we had winners and the fourth and fifth place people won the meet for us. If those same people had gotten fifth or sixth, we wouldn’t have won either the men’s or women’s meet.”
Luis Martinez (100 & 200 fly) and Joe Patching (200 back, 200 IM) each won two events for the men while Peter Holoda and Zach Apple went 1-2 in both the 50 and 100 freestyles.
In the women’s races Erin Falconer (200 free, 200 back) and Zoe Thatcher (100 back, 500 free) were multiple event winners. Falconer’s 200 free win was part of a 1-2-3 sweep in the event with Aly Tetzloff, who won the 100 fly, and Julie Meynen, who won the 100 free, touched behind her.
In the diving well, Alison Maillard and Maddie Cox combined for a 1-2 showing on both boards.
“I was pleased with our effort,” diving coach Jeff Shaffer said. “Alison showed improvement on 3-meter in improving her level of consistency and it’s always great to come away with two wins. Overall we’re getting better but still have a long way to go to reach our true potential.”
Auburn returns home for its next dual meet, playing host to Alabama on Friday, Nov. 4. Diving begins at 2 p.m. and swimming at 3 p.m. Admission to the meet is free. The meet also coincides with the Beat Bama Food Drive and fans are encouraged to bring canned goods to donate at the doors.
LSU Press Release
BATON ROUGE, La. – Nine swimmers and divers combined to earn a spot on the LSU All-Time Swimming and Diving record book, as LSU fell to Auburn by a combined score of 315-285 on Friday at the LSU Natatorium.
The women’s team goes to 2-1 after a 162-138 defeat, and the men’s team moves to 1-1 after falling short in a tightly-contested matchup by a score of 153-147.
“I think today we really embodied what being a student-athlete is,” said LSU swimming coach Dave Geyer. “Fifty-six student athletes wake up in the morning, come to practice, go to class, and come back here and lay it all on the line for the program and the school.”
I couldn’t be happier with what they did today. Falling short on the score side hurts, but I think moving forward with what we put down time-wise today and some of our results, at a national level, we’re going to get a little more notice and respect. We did everything we could today, and we’ll walk out of here with our heads held high.”
On the women’s side, LSU jumped out to an early lead in the first event, as the 200 medley relay team of Kate Zimmer, Colleen O’Neil, Kara Kopcso and Leah Troskot took first with a time of 1:40.67.
O’Neil took first place in the 100 breast with a time of 1:01.92, placing her seventh on the all-time list in the event. In the 200 fly, Kopcso finished first with a time of 1:58.01, earning her a fourth place all-time. With a time of 1:59.63, sophomore Gabrielle Pick secured a third-place finish and ninth on the all-time list in the 200 fly.
Troskot touched the wall first in the 50 free, finishing the event at 23.12. Troskot also tallied a third-place finish in the 100 free at 50.36. O’Neil added another individual win in the 200 breast with a time of 2:14.27, placing her at fifth all-time in the event. Kopcso notched two more times in the record books, finishing first in the 200 IM with a time of 2:01.07 to sit at No. 10 on the all-time list. Kopcso also came in second in the 100 fly, claiming seventh all-time at 53.43.
On the men’s team, freshman Sven Saemundsson took first in the 1000 free, completing the event at 9:13.74, earning fourth on the all-time list. Freshman Lewis Clough also took first in the 200 free at 1:38.75. In the 100 back, senior Logan Rysemus added another time to the record books, touching the wall first at 47.90 for seventh all-time.
Senior Silas Dejean secured an individual win in the 100 breast at 54.21 to move to ninth on the all-time list. Dejean and Saemundsson also added two more first-place finishes in the 200 breast and 500 free respectively. Dejean finished with a time of 2:00.00, and Saemundsson completed his event at 4:25.75.
In the relays, Rysemus, Dejean, Clough, and Joao Mescolote took second in the 200 medley at 1:28.32. Junior Jake Markham, freshman Karl Luht, Rysemus and Clough wrapped up the meet at second place in the 400 free, earning a time of 2:57.24.
For the diving team, freshman Juan Celaya shattered the all-time school record on the three-meter with a score of 431.80 in his first collegiate meet. Celaya also earned second all-time in the one-meter with a score of 392.85. Senior Andrew Suchla turned in a solid effort, finishing second in both the one and three-meter with scores of 330.60 and 377.70 respectively, claiming sixth place all-time on the three-meter.
Sophomore Rileigh Knox took third in the three-meter and fourth in the one-meter with scores of 280.88 and 255.53 for the women. In her first collegiate event, freshman Makayla Robillard took third in the one-meter, finishing with a score of 262.50.
“I couldn’t be any happier,” said LSU diving coach Doug Shaffer. “It’s their first competition, so we’ve been really training, and I saw a lot of really positive things where we stepped up and did the things we’ve been asking of them."
For the men to sweep on the one-meter and three-meter and for Juan to break the pool record and the school record in his debut performance on the three-meter, I thought that was a pretty special performance.”
Across the board, I’m excited with what we did today. We have some work to do, but this swimming and diving team performance today was one of the best team performances I’ve seen in my career here.”
LSU returns to action on November 17 for the Mizzou Diving Invite and Art Adamson Invitational.
