BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will begin the 2000-01 dual-meet season Friday with a double-dual meet versus both Houston and Wright State at home in the LSU Natatorium at 5 p.m.
“It’s going to be an exciting meet,” said LSU head coach Jeff Cavana. “We have everyone healthy on both teams, and we are at home so our men’s team is not limited to 20 people. All of the guys will compete in the meet.”
Both swimming and diving teams look to build on last year’s success by getting off to a good start in the 2000-01 dual-meet season.
Last year the Lady Tigers ended as the 16th-ranked team in the nation and compiled an 8-2 dual record. The men’s team finished the season ranked among the top 25 for the sixth-straight season at No. 23, and accumulated a 6-2 record in dual meets.
This will also be the first meet of the season for both the Houston Cougars and the Wright State Raiders. Last season LSU swept the teams with a home win over Houston’s women and road victory’s over both of the Wright State teams.
The Tigers’ swimming and diving teams traveled to Dayton, Ohio, last season to face Wright State, and came away with a 130-45 victory over the women and a 120-75 win over the men. Both Tiger teams are undefeated versus the Raiders and lead the all-time series’ at 5-0.
Houston made the trip over to Baton Rouge last season for a double-dual meet against the Lady Tigers. LSU extended its winning streak to 10-straight victories over the Cougars with a 65-47 win. The Lady Tigers lead the all-time series 15-5.
“This will be a good challenge for our girls, but in the end we should pull away because they don’t have any divers on their team.”
Cavana, who was named LSU’s head coach this past summer, was the head coach at Wright State from 1982-89 before coming to LSU as an assistant eleven years ago. The Raiders’ current head coach, Matt Liddy, was Cavana’s assistant for his tenure at Wright State.
“When I left Wright State to come here, I recommended Matt for the head coaching position, and he was the right person for the job,” said Cavana. “It’s always a special meet when we challenge Wright State. It’s going to be good to see Matt as well as Sion (Brinn).”
Sion Brinn, currently a first-year assistant coach for Wright State, graduated from LSU in 1995, and most recently competed in the 2000 Olympics for Great Britain.
“I’ve been coaching Sion since 1995,” Cavana said. “He was here in Baton Rouge this summer training with me for the Olympics when Matt called and asked if I knew of anyone who was capable of being a good assistant coach. I gave him Sion’s number and there he is.”
The LSU men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will open the 2000-01 dual-meet season Friday at 5 p.m. in the LSU Natatorium versus both Houston and Wright State.