The ladies of LSU held nothing back in their season opener, winning all but one event, as they trounced the Tulane Green Wave 210 to 86 at home. The Tigers excelled in several ways, with event sweeps, impressive early season times, and multiple diving zone qualifiers highlighting the night.
Louisiana product Kara Kopcso led the Tigers with two wins, taking the 200 free early in the meet with 1:48.36. The 2015 NCAA All-America Honorable Mention also took the 200 IM with an even more impressive 2:01.14. Kopcso is the only athlete so far to turn in a B cut for that event. I know it is a little early to be talking rankings, but it is worth mentioning that both of her times rank number one in the database so far as of this writing.
LSU Senior Megan Cox was also a double event winner, taking the 200 fly in 2:02.70, and the 100 free in 50.55. That 100 free time would rank her at #5 so far this year in the NCAA.
Other winning times worth noting were Colleen O’Neil‘s 1:02.40 in the 100 breaststroke and Devon Dabney‘s 4:54.75 for the 500 freestyle. Both would currently rank in the top 10 of times turned in to SWIMS so far.
LSU returns diving All-Americans Madison Sthamann and Cassie Weil, but look as though they have added even more top level talent to the squad. The top three performers in 1-meter, Weil, Sthamann, and event winner Allie Alter, all turned in scores above the 265 point Zone qualifying mark. Later, in the 3-meter event, three performances were above the Zone Qualifying 280 point threshhold, this time with Alter third, freshman Rileigh Knox taking second, and Weil winning, over 50 points ahead of the field at 351.23.
The lone event winner for the Green Wave was Eleanor Sills, who overtook LSU’s Kate Zimmer on the second 50 of the 100 fly, coming from behind to steal the event, 56.39 to 56.64.