Men’s Meet Comes Down To Final Relay As Auburn Sweeps LSU

AUBURN VS. LSU

• Results on Meet Mobile
• Hosted by Louisiana State University
• Friday, October 28th
• 25 yards
• Dual meet format

The results file will be added to the links above when it becomes available.

FINAL TEAM SCORES

• Men: Auburn 153, LSU 147
• Women: Auburn 162, LSU 138

The LSU Tigers hosted their first home meet of the season on Friday, as the Auburn Tigers traveled to Louisiana for some SEC dual meet action. The men’s meet came down to the very last race, as the Auburn men won the final relay by a tenth of a second to leave the score at 153-147. The Auburn women also picked up a victory, winning the meet with 162 points over LSU’s 138.

The Auburn men capitalized on their sprint free talent, as Peter Holoda and Zach Apple went 1-2 in both the 50 free and 100 free. Holoda was the lone man under 20 seconds in the 50 free, winning in 19.95 ahead of Apple (20.44). In the 100 free, Holoda clocked a 43.85 to pick up his 2nd win, followed by Apple in 44.84.

SEC Champion Joe Patching continued his usual trend of multiple wins for Auburn, taking home the 200 back and 200 IM titles today. With the teams separated by just 3 points going into the 200 IM, the final individual race, Patching brought home his 2nd victory with his 1:46.89.

LSU’s Silas Dejean and Sven Saemundsson each secured multiple victories for their team. Dejean swept the breaststrokes against Auburn’s Michael Duderstadt, who was the SEC Champion in both breaststrokes last season. In the 100 breast, Dejean out-touched Duderstadt 54.21 to 54.24 at the finish. In the 200 breast, on the other hand, he was nearly 2 secodns ahead of the field with his winning 2:00.00.

Saemundsson, a freshman, took control of the distance free races for LSU, getting things started with a victory in the first individual event: the 1000 free. In that race, he led by body lengths on the way to a 9:13.74, giving him his first ever home dual meet victory. He then went on to win the 500 free in 4:25.75

The men’s 400 free relay was the final event tonight, with the meet on the line as the teams were separated by just a few points. Auburn’s victory was decided in the final tenth of a second, as Kyle Darmody split a 44.00 to get his hand on the wall first ahead of a hard-charging Jake Markham, who anchored LSU’s relay in 43.82. At the finish, AU clocked a final time of 2:57.14 ahead of LSU’s 2:57.24.

On the women’s side, Erin Falconer led a 1-2-3 charge for Auburn in the 200 free, clocking a 1:48.81 ahead of teammate Julie Meynen (1:49.07) and Aly Tetzloff (1:49.79). Falconer then took on the 200 back, swimming the only sub-2:00 time to win the race in 1:58.90.

LSU’s Kara Kopcso also picked up a double, with both of her winning times among the LSU All-Time Top 10. In the 200 fly, she finished with a 1:58.01 to land 4th on the all-time list. She also earned the 10th slot on the all-time list in the 200 IM, charging to the wall in 2:01.07.

PRESS RELEASE – LSU:

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.

For more information and updates on LSU Swimming and Diving please visit LSUsports.net, ‘like’ us on Facebook at LSU Swimming and Diving or follow us on Twitter @LSUswimdive.

AB