Louisiana State University won 25 of 32 events to earn men’s and women’s wins over Southern Methodist Saturday.
Women’s Meet
The Tiger women won 13 of 16 events in a crushing home win. Megan Cox and Devon Dabney each won a pair of swimming events to help LSU sweep the freestyles.
Cox provided senior leadership with wins through the 100 and 200 frees. Her 1:47.93 beat the 200 free field by over two seconds, and she was 50.43 to win the 100 as well.
In the distances, the junior Dabney was unstoppable. She won the 1000 free by a whopping 26 seconds at 10:00.65, and added a 4:57.87 win late, holding off a charge from SMU’s Maddie Hoch, who was second in the 200 as well.
Leah Troskot went 23.40 to win the 50 free, completing the freestyle sweep for the home team.
Two of SMU’s three wins came in the breaststrokes, where Tara-Lynn Nicholas was the swimmer to beat. Nicholas went 1:02.23 to touch out LSU’s Colleen O’Neil in the 100, then again topped O’Neil by a narrow margin in the 200 breast at 2:16.59. (O’Neil was 1:02.49 and 2:16.69).
Troskot was a part of two relay wins for LSU. She anchored the winning 200 medley relay in 22.89, and that team went 1:41.65. It also included the individual champs in the 100 back (Caley Oquist, 56.17) and 200 fly (Kara Kopcso (1:58.86).
Troskot also led off the winning 400 free relay, which went 3:24.80. Danielle Stirrat had the bet split at 50.35, though SMU’s Vicky Cunningham was 49.59 for the runner-up team.
Final Score: LSU 187 – SMU 103
Men’s Meet
Juniors Logan Rysemus and Brandon Goldman led the LSU men with a pair of wins apiece, combining to sweep the butterfly events.
Rysemus started off with a 100 back win, going 48.93 early in the meet. That ended a two-event win streak for SMU out of the gate. Rysemus would win the 100 fly late in 48.57.
Goldman won the other butterfly event, going 1:48.02 to blow out the 200 fly field by almost 3 seconds. That was a 1-2-3 sweep for the Tigers, a huge point swing heading into the first diving break.
Goldman also won the night’s final individual event, going 1:49.63 in the 200 IM. That was a 1-2 for LSU.
SMU had a fast start, winning the first two individual races. Lucas Schenke went 9:33.56 to win the 1000 free out of the gate, and Christian Scherubl took the 200 free in 1:40.51 an event later.
The two went 1-2 in the 500 free later on in SMU’s only other swimming win of the night. Schenke got that win in 4:38.27, with Scherubl going 4:38.91 for second.
LSU swept the relays, with Alex Linge swimming legs of both. Goldman, Silas Dejean, Rysemus and Linge went 1:29.94 in the 200 medley, getting a 22.91 from Goldman on backstroke and a 21.63 from Rysemus on fly. Dejean also outsplit his competition by almost a second, splitting 24.80 on breaststroke.
That was a sign of things to come, as Dejean would win the 100 breast later on in 55.84.
Linge led off the 400 free relay in 45.24, the best split of the field even without a relay start. Jake Markham, Tyler Harper and Devin McCaffrey sealed the 3:03.10 win.
Linge also won the individual 100 free, going 45.04 to beat Scherubl.
Final Score: LSU 197 – SMU 103.
