South Carolina’s redshirt freshman Kevin Leithold won three individual events as the Gamecock men topped LSU 166-134. The LSU women avenged the men’s loss, beating South Carolina 168.5-131.5.
Women’s meet
The LSU women jumped on top early, taking the top two spots in the 200 medley relay. The A relay of Caley Oquist, Taryn Mackenzie, Rainey White, and Amber Carter won easily in 1:43.24. The real race was for the second position, where the Tiger B team built a lead over the last three legs to top South Carolina’s A.
The Gamecocks stormed back in the 1000, with Abby Galbreath winning in 10:14.90. She swam away from LSU’s Devon Dabney early. Dabney was second, but South Carolina took 3rd and 4th in the event.
LSU was strong in the next two events; Megan Cox took the 200 free in 1:50.34, safely ahead of South Carolina’s Victoria Mitchell (1:51.21). Then Caley Oquist took the 100 back in an event the Tigers finished 1-3-4 in add to their lead.
South Carolina’s Amanda Rutqvist put a stop to LSUs run in the 100 breaststroke, taking it in 1:04.64, but the Tigers still finished 2-3-4 with a trio of 1:05s from Torrey Bussey, Taryn Mackenzie, and Colleen O’Neil.
LSU freshman Kara Kopcso was impressive on the day – she took her first of two wins in the 200 fly, where she beat teammate Sophie Weber 2:01.07 to 2:02.36. And LSU’s other dual event winner Amber Carter took the next event, the 50 free easily in 23.36. The next fastest swimer was South Carolina’s Rachel Elliot, who went 24.13.
South Carolina swept the diving events. Patty Kranz scored 310.95 on 1m and 339.78 on 3m to take both events for the Gamecock women.
Carter was back in action after the diving break, winning the 100 in 51.51, narrowly beating teammate Leah Troskot.
But South Carolina kept fighting, putting together 3 consecutive wins to make a run at LSU’s lead. Victoria Mitchell won two events in a short time period, the 200 back (2:00.03) in a touchout of LSU’s Sophie Weber and the 500 free (4:57.49). Sandwiched in between the events was the 200 breast, which SC’s Rutqvist won in 2:18.84.
LSU’s Kopcso put a stop to the run, though, taking the 100 fly easily in 55.30 to sweep the butterfly events.
Weber, runner-up twice for LSU at this meet, finally took home a win in the 200 IM, holding off a late charge from South Carolina’s Galbreath. Weber finished in 2:04.46.
Finally, LSU won the 400 free relay by two seconds. Carter, Kopcso, Troskot and Dabney went 3:17.71 to beat South Carolina.
Men’s meet
LSU took the opening medley relay by over a second. The relay of Michael Young, Gabriel Rooker, Frank Greeff, and Michael Saco went 1:31.16 to South Carolina’s 1:32.26.
Marwan El Kamash won the 1000 for South Carolina, though, leading a 1-2 finish in 9:33.04. Alex Eiden was second.
Gerard Rodriquez and Michael Flach followed that up with a 1-2 finish of their own for the Gamecocks, 1:40.02 and 1:40.69 respectively in the 200 free.
LSU jumped back on the board in the 100 backstroke – Michael Young was back off his medley relay win to take the event in 49.16, the only swimmer under 50.
The Gamecock’s redshirt freshman, Kevin Leithold, originally of Germany, took his first of 3 individual wins in the 100 breaststroke. His 55.36 was a second faster than the field, and teammate Jared Kauffman touched out LSU’s top breaststroker Ricardo Alvarado Jiminez for second.
LSU answered back with 1-2s in the 200 fly and 50 free. Frank Greeff won easily in 1:50.36 and Logan Rysemus was second in the fly, Michael Saco (20.65) and Marco Gonzalez (20.73) swept the 50.
Cole Miller won both diving boards for South Carolina. His scores were 356.40 on 1m and 359.78 on 3m.
Leithold blasted to another win in the 100 free, going 44.87. Saco and Gonzalez of SC were second and third.
LSU’s Michael Young swept the backstroke events, taking the 200 back by a longshot in 1:47.31. LSU continued its momentum with Ricardo Alvarado Jiminez’s 200 breast win. He went 2:03.29 and the Tigers finished 1-3-4.
But South Carolina fired back immediately with a dominating 1-2-3 finish in the 500 free. Gerard Rodriquez was 4:36.93 and Michael Flach and Alex Eiden added a pair of 4:37s for the sweep.
Leithold won his third individual title in a close race, beating LSU’s Frank Greeff in the 100 fly 49.61 to 49.76. Also sub-50 was South Carolina’s Sam Lynch, who went 49.83.
South Carolina went 1-2 in the 200 IM to fully seal the meet. Jared Kauffman won in 1:52.84, and Matt Navata touched out Greeff by three tenths for second.
The Gamecocks iced the meet with a win in the 400 free relay, where the team of El Kamash, Flach, Covert, and Leithold went 3:01.42. Leithold continued to impress, splitting a 43.7 on the anchor leg.
