INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The LSU women’s swimming and diving team finished the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships Saturday in 16th-place here in Indianapolis, Ind. The No. 16 ranking is the Lady Tigers’ highest ranking since the 1992-93 season when the team finished the season ranked 13th in the nation.
“We’re really excited for the girls,” said LSU head coach Rick Meador. “All six of the them gave a great effort this weekend, and I am extremely proud of how they performed.”
Ashley Culpepper, LSU’s junior diver, was named the NCAA Diver of the Year for her performance during the NCAA Championships and LSU diving coach Scott Reich received the Diving Coach of the Year award.
Culpepper won the 3-meter diving competition Friday, finished third in the 1-meter event Thursday, and placed fifth in the platform event Saturday to finish the NCAA Championships as the top diver in the nation.
“Ashley did an awesome job at this meet,” said Meador. “She had the best all-around performance of all the divers this week, and she definitely earned all of the accolades that she is receiving.”
Reich, in his fifth season as the LSU diving coach, won the Diving Coach of the Year by leading two divers to NCAA Championship titles in the same year. That is an accomplishment that had never been done throughout the history of LSU swimming and diving. Sophomore Jamie Watkins won the 1-meter springboard event Thursday, before Culpepper won the 3-meter competition Friday.
The captain of the LSU women’s swimming and diving team, Melissa Knox, placed-15th in the nation in the 1500-meter freestyle event. Knox a senior from British Columbia, Canada, closed out her irreplacable four-year swimming career for the Lady Tigers Saturday at the NCAA Championships. She completed the 1500-freestyle event in 16:38.96.
The Georgia Lady Bulldogs won the National Championship for the second year in a row.