LSU took home three wins at the Houston Quad meet Friday and Saturday, topping Rice, Houston and Tulane in the women’s only 4-way dual meet.
LSU won 223-124 over Rice, 278-75 over Houston and 287-65 over Tulane.
Rice beat both Houston (253-91) and Tulane (252-89), and punctuated a strong weekend with a school record from breaststroker Rachel Moody.
Houston topped Tulane 202-150 in the final dual.
LSU pulled three wins from freshman Kara Kopcso. She went 1:49.01 to beat out her teammate Stacey Stanfield in a 1-2-3 Tiger sweep of the 200 free, crushed the 200 IM field with a 2:00.38 and then did the same with the 400 IM on Saturday, going 4:23.51.
Stanfield got a win of her own with a 4:54.95 in the 500 free. Alex Bettridge and Cassie Weil combined to sweep diving for the Tigers, and Amber Carter got two big wins, dipping under 23 with a 22.99 50 free win and going 53.81 to pace the 100 fly.
Carter also swam on all four relays, which LSU split with Rice. LSU went 1-2 in the 200 medley relay with a 23.5 fly split from Carter and a 22.6 anchor leg from Leah Troskot. The Tigers also won the 400 free relay Friday night, going 3:24.23 off a 50.29 Carter split.
But Rice pulled out two relay wins on Saturday. The 400 medley relay team of Shelly Patton, Rachel Moody, Casey Clark and Cora McKenzie went 3:46.77. Moody was the difference-maker on that relay, and she was the story of the weekend for the Owls.
The junior smashed a school record in winning the 100 breast Saturday. Her time of 1:01.71 beat the field by 2 seconds and also spearheaded a 1-2 finish for Rice. That came on the heels of Friday night’s 200 breast, where Moody was denied the 12-year-old school record by just a few tenths. Her 2:15.27 was still the fastest of the field by far, though, and bodes well for her moving forward to the Conference USA Championships in two weeks.
Rice also got a touch-out win to close the meet, nipping LSU in the 200 free relay 1:34.46 to 1:34.52. The Owls had to come from behind, but anchor Karina Wlostowska flew past LSU in the final 50 to take the win. Wlostowska was also the 100 free champ just two events earlier.
Also in that 200 free relay, host Houston took third, putting up a season-best 1:36.06 and touching out the LSU B team. As Houston honored its seniors Saturday, senior Heather Winn fittingly led the Cougars in the individual races, finishing fourth in the 200 free with a 1:52.67 and taking third in the 500 in 5:00.56.
Tulane had a lot of good signs in the 400 free relay – not only did their top relay put up a season-best 3:35.34, but lead-off swimmer Mia Schachter also put up a season-best 52.24 on the opening leg. Schachter would better even that time in the open 100 free on Saturday, going 52.09 for 8th place.
This was the final regular season contest for all four teams. Rice and Tulane will next compete at the Conference USA Championships starting February 26, Houston will swim the AAC Championships a week earlier, beginning February 19, and LSU will be back in action one day before that, swimming the SEC Championships starting February 18.
Correction: Moody won’t be competing at the AAC Championships. She swims for Rice which competes in Conference USA.