LSU January Intrasquad
- January 15, 2022
- LSU Natatorium, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
- Results PDF (see below)
LSU held a team intrasquad on Saturday, January 15th in place of their scheduled meet with Florida State. That meet was canceled due to COVID-19 protocols within the Florida State program. The meet featured Olympian Brooks Curry as well as a huge swim on the women’s side by Hannah Bellina that would have qualified her for the 2021 NCAA Championships.
Because it was an intrasquad meet, by definition the times do not officially count, but they can still serve as an indicator for future meets.
The intrasquad featured random events. The last individual event was the 50 freestyle run as the ISL does it with knockouts. There was a winner and loser bracket, and the 50s were swum every three minutes. After the 50s, there was a ten minute break and then the 400 freestyle relay occured.
LSU head coach Rick Bishop spoke of the intrasquad saying, “We wanted to create some systemic stress for our Sprinters. It was a challenge but they had fun.”
Men’s Highlights
Highlighting the meet was US 2020 Tokyo Olympian Brooks Curry. He led off the 400 freestyle relay splitting a 43.91, turning at a time of 21.07. This split is around what he normally goes as he went a time of 43.98 in the dual meet against Alabama going out in a time of 21.14. He also went a time of 43.91 exactly in a quad-meet against Wyoming, Denver, and Air Force, going out in a time of 21.13. Curry currently holds the seventh fastest time in the NCAA this season as he swam a time of 42.10 at the Art Adamson Invitational.
Individually, Curry competed in the 50 freestyle knockout rounds. He swam a time of 19.53 in the first round, 19.69 in the second round, and 20.28 in the third round. He was the only swimmer to break 20-seconds in any of the rounds. His fastest time from the first round is about a half-second off of his best from this season. He holds the third fastest time in the NCAA this season with a time of 19.09 from the Art Adamson Invitational.
Freshman Griffin Curtis swam to a time of 1:45.96 in the 200 backstroke. That time was 1.5 seconds off of his season best of 1:44.46 from the Art Adamson Invitational. His best time prior to LSU was a 1:45.17.
Other notable results:
- 100 breaststroke: Mitchell Mason, 54.30 (0.87 seconds off his season best from midseason)
- 200 freestyle: Ryan Warmbier, 1:37.69 (faster than his 1:38.60 from midseason, personal best by 0.04 seconds)
Women’s Highlights
Highlighting the women’s side was sophomore Hannah Bellina. She swam to a time of 1:56.88 in the 200 butterfly. This was a huge swim for Bellina as it was unofficially a personal best. Her previous best of 1:57.18 was from the 2021 Women’s SEC Championships which earned her an invite to the 2021 NCAA Championships. Her time from the intrasquad would place her 35th in the NCAA this year. This swim also was a big season best as she swam a time of 2:00.00 at the Art Adamson Invitational.
Bellina also swam to a (unofficial) personal best in the 100 butterfly with a time of 54.00. Her previous personal best was 54.36 from the Art Adamson Invitational. Prior to LSU, her personal best was a time of 54.88.
Junior Katarina Milutinovich swam to a time of 1:46.98 in the 200 freestyle. That time was just off of her time of 1:46.84 that she swam at the Art Adamson Invitational placing her 54th in the NCAA this season. It took a time of 1:46.25 to earn an invite to the 2021 NCAA Championships.
Other notable results:
- 200 breaststroke: Allie McDaid, 2:15.14 (faster than season best of 2:17.84)
- 100 breaststroke: Emilie Boll, 1:01.72 (faster than season best of 1:01.97)
- 500 freestyle: Jolee Liles, 4:50.82 (went 4:46.52 at midseason, 4:48.14 at 2021 SEC’s)
LSU has their next meet scheduled for Saturday, January 22nd at home against Texas A&M. The meet is scheduled to be their senior day.
Griffin Curtis has been a great pickup for the Tigers!