Brooks Curry, Maggie Mac Neil Post Wins as LSU Triumphs in Denver
The LSU Tigers swim teams were in Denver Saturday for a three-team meet also featuring the University of Denver and the Air Force Academy, and the SEC visitors easily took down their rivals with a handful of quick swims. The big names for LSU picked up one event win each. Maggie Mac Neil, the fifth-year swimmer who won the Olympic gold medal in the 100-meter butterfly in 2021, swam a mark of 1:56.26 to win the 200 backstroke. Mac Neil previously swam a mark of 50.84 in the 100-yard fly in last week’s dual meet at South Carolina.
On the men’s side, Brooks Curry won the 100 free in 43.36 while also finishing second in the 200 free and helping LSU to wins in the 200 medley relay and 400 free relay. Curry, the defending NCAA champion in the 50 free and 100 free, anchored the Tigers’ medley relay in 19.27.
Read the full press release from LSU below:
The LSU swimming and diving team picked up four wins in a tri-team meet with the University of Denver and Air Force Academy Saturday inside the El Pomar Natatorium.
The men defeated Denver by a score of 223-77 and Air Force by a score of 225-75. For the women, they won their second and third dual meet of the season, picking up a 220-80 win over Denver and 235-65 against Air Force.
The Tigers won 26 of the 32 events, including the four relays LSU competed in. To begin the individual wins, Jenna Bridges picked up the win in the 1000-yard free with a time of 10:24.59 and Allison Tomsuden touched the wall right behind her with a time of 10:29.98. Stuart Higdon had his first collegiate win in the 1000-yard free with a time of 9:39.89.
For the 200-yard free, Megan Barnes, Jolee Liles and Chloe Cheng finished in the top three with Barnes finishing with a time of 1:52.86. In the 100-yard back, transfer Jade Hannah won with a time of 55.39, while Katarina Milutinovich and Michaela de Villiers closed out the top three. On the men’s side, Griffin Curtis came out victorious with a time of 50.14.
Mitch Mason won yet another 100-yard breaststroke race with a time of 55.33. Additionally, he won the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:04.72.
In the 200 fly, Sofia Sartori continued her strong start against collegiate competition with another win. She touched the wall first with a time of 2:01.20. Sartori also finished first in the 100 fly with a time of 55.38. For the men, Gavin Rogers picked up the win in the 200 fly with a time of 1:52.05, while Pawel Uryniuk won the 100 fly with a time of 48.91.
In the speed freestyle events, the Tigers had four impressive wins.
Maggie Mac Neil, who has broken four records in two meets, closed out the meet Saturday with a win in the 200 back with a time of 1:56.26. Her time placed in the seventh spot on the LSU all-time top-10 for the event.
The LSU divers dominated the field with wins in each of the four events they competed in. On the women’s three-meter, the top five finishers came from LSU, including Helle Tuxen having a score of 341.25. Following Tuxen was Hayley Montague, Montserrat Lavenant, Chiara Pellacani and Maggie Buckley. On the men’s one-meter, Adrian Abadia and Carson Paul took the top two spots with respective scores of 324.05 and 323.15.
On women’s one-meter, four of the top five divers were from LSU. Tuxen also won the event with a score of 322.15. On the men’s three-meter, Abadia and Zayne Danielewicz earned the top two spots with scores of 417.25 and 349.75.
