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

By Jack McCormick on SwimSwam

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

BATON ROUGE, La. – The Alabama swimming and diving team opened the 2020-21 season on the road Friday by dominating the LSU Tigers in Baton Rouge. The Crimson Tide men beat the Tigers 194-104, while the Alabama women came out on top 183-117.

Rhyan White and Kensey McMahon led the way for the women’s team, winning three events apiece. White dominated the 100 and 200 backstrokes, while also coming away with a win in the 100 butterfly. McMahon swam away from the field in the 500 and 1,000 freestyles and took first in the 200 butterfly as well.

The Tide had a trio of swimmers – Derek Maas Matt Menke and Nicholas Perera – tally two individual wins each to lead men. Maas won the 100 and 200 breaststrokes, Menke took top honors in the 100 and 200 backstrokes, while Perera won the 200 butterfly and 200 individual medley.

HEAD COACH COLEY STICKELS SAID

“We wanted to come in here and find out where we are as a team in what has definitely been a different start to the year, and we did that. I think having our first meet of the season on the road was a good experience for our rookies and it certainly gave us a chance to bond as a team. We had some really good swims today and there are some areas that we still need to work on. We’ll enjoy this win, but we’re also focused on getting back to practice and continuing to get better week-by-week.”

CROWDING THE TOP

• The Crimson Tide men and women combined to take at least the top-two spots in 12 races Friday
• The men swept the top-three places in four races, the 200 butterfly, 100 backstroke, 100 butterfly and the 200 individual medley
• The men also took first and second in the 200 medley relay, 200 backstroke and 100 breaststroke
• The UA women finished first and second in the 50, 100 and 1,000 freestyles, 200 backstroke and 100 butterfly

RELAY WINS

• The Crimson Tide men and women opened and closed the meet by winning relays
• The women opened the meet (and the season) with White, Kaila Wong, Flora Molnar & Cora Dupre winning the 200-medley relay
• The men went one-two in the 200 medley relay to open their meet, with Menke, Maas, Liam Bell and Jonathan Berneburg taking the victory
• Molnar, Dupre, Scott and Isabella Matesa touched the wall first in the 400 freestyle relay to close out the women’s meet
• Berneburg, Bell, Cam Auerbach and Matt King won the 400 freestyle relay and finish off the Tigers

WINNING WAYS – WOMEN

• Four additional women joined White and McMahon in grabbing individual wins against the Tigers
• Scott won the 50 and 200 freestyle on the night, while Molnar won the 100 freestyle and Caitlin Reynera won the 200 breaststroke
• Gracie Felner picked up a win in her first meet wearing the crimson and white of Alabama, taking the top spot in the 200 individual medley

WINNING WAYS – MEN

• Maas, Menke and Perera were joined in the individual win column by two other men vs. LSU
• Colton Stogner led a 1-2-3 Crimson Tide sweep in the 100 butterfly
• King opened his freshman season with the Crimson Tide by winning the 50 freestyle

UP NEXT

• Alabama remains on the road for its next outing, traveling to Knoxville, Tenn., to face off against both Tennessee and Virginia Nov. 19-21

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