LSU Women Open 2016-17 With Win Over SEC Rival Vanderbilt

MEET FACTS

• Complete results
• Hosted by Vanderbilt
• Friday, September 23rd
• 25 yards
• Dual Meet Format

SCORE: LSU- 200, Vanderbilt- 66

Today marked the first SEC dual meet of the 2016-17 NCAA season, as the LSU women’s squad traveled to Nashville, Tennessee to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores. The Tigers won the meet in dominating fashion, ending the day with a final winning score of 200-66.

Picking up multiple wins was Honorable Mention All-American Leah Troskot, a senior sprint freestyler for LSU. Troskot swept the 50 and 100 freestyles, posting times of 23.78 and 51.27 respectively in those events.

Troskot’s senior teammates Kara Kopsco, Makenna Wilson, and Collen O’Neil also picked up a pair of victories each. Wilson and O’Neil swept the individual races of their stroke specialties, with O’Neil winning the 100 (1:02.71) and 200 (2:18.91) breast, and Wilson winning the 100 (56.75) and 200 (2:02.39) back. Kopsco brought home wins in the 200 free (1:50.73) and 100 fly (54.67).

PRESS RELEASES

LSU:

Courtesy of LSU Swimming & Diving

NASHVILLE, Tenn.- Kara Kopcso, Leah Troskot, Colleen O’Neil and Makenna Wilson garnered two individual events apiece, leading the LSU women’s swimming team (1-0) to a 200-61 victory over Vanderbilt (0-1) at the Centennial Sportsplex in Nashville Friday afternoon.

“It was nice to get a starting point for our women from the season,” said LSU swimming coach Dave Geyer. “This is close to three weeks earlier than we raced last season, so we haven’t focused too much on our details in training and that was evident. It’s a long process for the season, and it was great to start off with a win for the women.”

Kopcso placed first in the 200 free and 100 fly, posting times of 1:50.73 and 54.67 respectively.

Troskot notched first place finishes in both the 50 free and 100 free with times of 23.78 and 51.27.

O’Neil secured victories in the 100 and 200 breast, finishing with times of 1:02.71 and 2:18.91.

Wilson tallied wins in the 100 back and 200 back, earning times of 56.75 and 2:02.39.

All four ladies were also part of the 200-medley relay team that took first place with a time of 1:43.49 to start the meet. The relay team of Haylee Knight, Kate Zimmer, Troskot and Kopcso wrapped up the meet with a first place time of 3:29.85 in the 400 yard free relay.

Sophomore Gabrielle Pick took first in the 200 fly with a personal best of 2:02.29 to earn her first career win. Senior Sophie Weber won the 200 IM with a final time of 2:04.50. Senior Devon Dabneyalso tacked another first place finish in the 500 free, ending with a time of 5:01.70, and junior Jane MacDougall placed second in the 1000 free with a time of 10:26.99.

The women return to Baton Rouge for the annual Purple and Gold Intrasquad meet on Saturday. The meet begins at 11 a.m. inside the LSU Natatorium and admission is free.

Men’s swimmer Logan Rysemus returns to the water for his senior year after earning NCAA Honorable Mention All-America honors in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke last season, becoming the sixth All-American in the 100 fly and third in the 100 back.

Men’s diver Matthew Phillip returns for his sophomore campaign after he set the fourth-highest scores in school history on both three-meter and platform his freshman year. Women’s sophomore diver Lizzie Cui is also set to participate for the gold squad after competing in the 2016 Rio Olympics for New Zealand over the summer.

“We’re looking forward to shake off some of the training and create an environment where we can swim, dive and compete in a home environment as a mark to be a yardstick for the progress that we’ve made in the early part of the season,” said LSU diving coach Doug Shaffer.

“For the Purple and Gold (meet), it’s always fun to create this team atmosphere and have them go against each other and get that competitive spirit in the water,” said Geyer. “This year will be a little bit different with the women competing the day before, so we’ll make this a lot more relay-focused. At the same time, we want our coaching staff to see what we need out of individual swims as well. We’re looking forward to a fun few days of racing.”

Vanderbilt:

Courtesy of Vanderbilt Swimming & Diving

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Vanderbilt swim team began its 2016-17 season with a good showing against LSU at Centennial Sportsplex. The Commodores earned several podium finishes against the Tigers, but fell 200-61.

“Today we saw some things we liked,” said head coach Jeremy Organ. “Overall, I am pretty happy with our result. I am looking forward to getting some work done in the pool and getting ourselves in a better situation to be competitive going forward this year.”

The highlight of the opening meet for the Commodores was the performance of the Vandy freshman who gained numerous podium finishes in their first collegiate meet.

“Great group, Selah Peacock’s 1000-yard and 500-yard freestyle really stood out as some good swims,” Organ said. “I think we are going to see some really great things from that group as a whole this season.”

Selah Peacock claimed a first place finish in the 1000 freestyle (10:24.57), it was her first race as a Commodore. Peacock finished second in the 500-yard freestyle (5:08.08), her other individual race of the afternoon. Peacock raced in the final event of the meet, the 400-freestyle relay (3:43.59), and her team finished 7th.

Freshman Paige Hamilton also earned a second place finish in her collegiate debut in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 24.36. Hamilton raced in both the 200-yard medley relay (1:47.60) and 400-yard freestyle relay (3:36.08), finishing in 5th and 4th respectfuly.

Amanda Chabbott was another Vandy freshman that picked up a podium finish in her collegiate debut. She finished 3rd in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:07.72). Chabbott also raced in the 200-yard freestyle (1:58.59) and the 400-yard freestyle relay (3:43.59) in her debut.

Namilla Sanchez rounded out the Commodore freshman that gained a podium finish in their debut. Sanchez finished 3rd in the 500-yard freestyle (5:10.84), finishing just behind Peacock. Sophie Halper and Breinne Thorne were the other two Vanderbilt freshmen to make their debuts against LSU.

Breanna Sapienza, the current 100 and 200-yard butterfly record holder, earned a two podium finishes for the Commodores. Sapienza finished 3rd in the 100-yard butterfly (56.15), and 200-yard medley relay (1:45.80). Kara Lucenti, who holds the school record in the 200-yard breaststroke and 400-yard IM, added to the Commodores’ podium finishes on the afternoon. She placed 3rd in the 200-breaststroke (2:22.98).

The Commodores will be back in action next Friday, Sept. 30th. Vandy will travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala. for a tri-meet against Alabama and West Florida.

“The biggest thing going into next week is consistency and training along with continuing to improve,” Organ stated. “We look to do things a little better next week and another week of training, I think it will be very good. Going on the road to Alabama will be a tough test for us but it is what we need.”