Alabama Rolls LSU; Brooks Curry Swims First Races Since SEC Champs Breakout

LSU vs Alabama Dual Meet

• November 6th, 2020
• LSU Natatorium
• Short Course Yards (SCY) format
• Results PDF
• Final Score
  • Men: Alabama 194 – LSU 104
  • Women: Alabama 183 – LSU 117

Racing in his first meet since his breakout SEC Championship meet in February, LSU sophomore Brooks Curry swam to two first-place finishes as LSU hosted the University of Alabama for a dual meet.

In Curry’s first individual race, the 200 free, he swam to a commanding first-place finish, leading the field by almost four seconds. Curry touched the wall in 1:35.86, only about three seconds off his lifetime best, a 1:32.43 from the 2020 SEC Championships. That time was good enough for second place at that meet, as well as the 8th fastest time in the nation last season. Second place went to Alabama’s Cam Auerbach, who finished in 1:39.65.

Curry’s other first-place finish came in the 100 free. Curry held off Alabama’s Liam Bell in the event, touching in 43.19. Bell took second in 43.70. Last year, as a freshman, Curry was the SEC champion in the 100 free, finishing first with a new best time of 41.81. He held the nation’s fourth-fastest time in the event last year.

Rounding out his individual events, Curry took second in the 50 free. He finished in 20.07, just .06 behind Alabama’s Matt King (20.01). Curry’s swim marks his fastest in-season time. The only two meets at which he has been faster than 20.07 is his 19.90 from LSU’s mid-season (SMU Invitational) and his 19.30 from the 2020 SEC Championships.

His efforts weren’t enough, though, weren’t enough as Alabama rolled to a sweep of the victories. The Alabama men move to 32-11 all-time against LSU, while the Crimson Tide women now have a 23-15-1 all-time record in the series. In spite of their huge football rivalry, prior to this meeting, the teams hadn’t raced since the 2016-2017 season.

For Alabama, one of their top performances on the men’s side came from sophomore Matthew Menke. Menke, who was an SEC Championships A-finalist in both backstroke events, took first in both against LSU. He posted a 48.48 in the 100 back and a 1:47.47 in the 200 back, leading his team to a 1-2 finish in both races. He also added a second-place finish in the 200 IM as part of the Crimson Tide’s 1-2-3 finish.

On the women’s side, Alabama was led by three event champion Kensey McMahon. McMahon finished with the top time in the 1000 free (9:50.70), 200 fly (2:00.49), and 500 free (4:49.33). She also added a 51.88 split as the 3rd leg of Alabama’s B 400 free relay. McMahon was the SEC champion in the 1650 free last year, posting the nation’s second-fastest time with a 15:43.74.

LSU’s top women’s performance came on the diving board, as freshman Montserrat Lavenant swept the diving events. Lavenant led a 1-2-3 finish on the 1-meter with a score of 324.60, as well as adding another first-place finish on the 3-meter (334.65)

Other Notable Swims

• Joining Lavenant in sweeping the diving events was LSU’s Juan Celaya Hernandez, posting scores of 454.35 (1-meter) and 383.7 (3-meter).
• Nicholas Perera (Alabama) took first in both the 200 fly (1:49.37) and 200 IM (1:49.53)
• Alabama’s Morgan Scott an Indiana transfer, posted the only sub-50.0 split in the women’s 400 free relay, touching in 48.98. She also added a 1st place finish in the 200 free (1:47.37) and 50 free (22.77).

Press Releases

Courtesy: LSU

BATON ROUGE – The LSU Swimming and Diving Team welcomed Alabama to the Natatorium on Friday to kickoff the 2020-2021 season. The Tigers won nine events, but ultimately came up short against the Crimson Tide. The men lost by a final score of 194-84 and the women fell 183-117.

The Tigers will be back in action November 18-21 as the swim team will head to Texas A&M for the Art Adamson Invitational. The Tiger divers will head to Austin for the Texas Diving Invitational.

IN THE POOL

A total of five events were won by the Tigers on Friday night in the pool. Brooks Curry and freshman Mason Nyboer both won two events on the night. Curry, the current 100-Yard Freestyle SEC Champion, won the 100 and 200-Yard Free with times of 43.19 and 1:35.86. Nyboer won the 500-Yard Free with a time of 4:33.72 and the 1000-Yard Free with a time of 9:23.44. Another freshman, Emilie Boll, won the Women’s 100-Yard Breast with a time of 1:01.74.

Katarina Milutinovich and Summer Stanfield made their mark at the top of the leaderboard as well for the Tigers. Milutinovich finished second in the 200-Yard Free with a time of 1:48.73. She then finished third in the 50 and 100-Yard Free with times of 23.28 and 50.51.

Stanfield finished second in the 200-Yard IM and the 500-Yard Free with times of 2:03.65 and 4:57.13. She took home a third place finish in the 200-Yard Free with a time of 1:50.82.

Braden Nyboer, Hannah Bellina, Cassie Kalisz, Allie McDaid, and Luca Pfyffer all brought home second place finishes for the Tigers against the Crimson Tide.

ON THE BOARDS

Juan Celaya-Hernandez and Montserrat Gutierrez Lavenant both swept the springboard events for the Tigers against Alabama.

Celaya-Hernandez won the three-meter with a score of 454.35 and the one-meter with a score of 383.70. He won three-meter by over 76 points and one-meter by over 41 points in what was a dominating performance for the senior.

Gutierrez Lavenant won the three-meter with a score of 334.65 and the one-meter with a score of 324.60. She won one-meter by 35 points and three-meter by almost 20 points in her first career meet for the Tigers.

Joining Celaya-Hernandez on the men’s leaderboard was Manny Vazquez Bas and Dakota Hurbis. Vazquez Bas finished second on three-meter with a score of 377.78. He then finished in third place on one-meter with a score of 314.70.

Hurbis notched a fourth place finish on three-meter with a score of 335.18 and a fifth place finish on one-meter with a score of 302.25.

On the women’s side, Helle Tuxen notched two second place finishes in her first career meet for the Tigers. She dove to a score of 314.78 on three-meter and 289.34 on one-meter. Anne Tuxen finished in third place on one-meter with a score of 284.33 and fifth place on three-meter with a score of 277.95.

Courtesy: Alabama