BATON ROUGE — Four of LSU’s swimmers and divers received All-SEC honors Wednesday as the Knoxville News-Sentinel released the Southeastern Conference’s First and Second Team Awards for the 2000 season.
“This is a tremendous honor for our athletes,” said LSU head coach Rick Meador. “I’m extremely proud of them for receiving these awards. They all worked really hard this season, and it’s a great honor for them to be recognized by their peers.”
The Lady Tigers’ junior diver, Ashley Culpepper, won the SEC Diver of the Year Award, while LSU’s diving coach Scott Reich was named SEC Diving Coach of the Year.
In March, Culpepper was named the National Diver of the Year and Reich received the National Diving Coach of the Year Award.
At the NCAA Championships, Culpepper won the NCAA title in the 3-meter springboard event, finished third in the 1-meter competition, and placed fifth in the 10-meter platform.
“I’m really happy for both Ashley (Culpepper) and Scott (Reich),” Meador said. “They have each accomplished so much this season, and it is good to see them get some well-deserved recognition.”
LSU sophomore Jaime Watkins was named to the All-SEC Second Team Wednesday. Watkins was also a winner of a Diving National Championship trophy this season. On the opening day of the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, she outscored the rest of the field and was victorious in the 1-meter springboard event.
The Tiger athletes receiving All-SEC Honorable Mention Honors were sophomore freestyler Rodrigo Castro and junior diver Corey Fox.
Both Castro and Fox finished among the nation’s elite at the Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships. Fox placed sixth in the platform diving event and Castro finished 10th in the 200-meter freestyle competition.