BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams capped yet another successful spring recruiting season on Tuesday, as the 17th-ranked Lady Tigers added seven highly-touted recruits and the No. 19 Tigers notched eight elite swimmers and divers from across the globe.
“I am very excited about this year’s recruiting class,” said LSU head coach Jeff Cavana. “Our goal was to add quality to both our men and women’s teams, and we also wanted to recruit heavily in the state of Louisiana and try and sign the best in the state. I feel that we have achieved both of these goals.”
The LSU men’s swimming and diving team signed three of the nation’s top prospects from Louisiana, two from Texas, one from California, and a pair of the world’s most celebrated swimmers.
Jan Minartz, who hails from Bad Salzuflen, Germany, and Francisco Paez of Valencia, Venezuela, will each add some international flavor to the Tigers as well as world-class talent. Paez competed in the 200-meter freestyle event at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, and was a member of the 400-meter freestyle relay team that finished in 16th place. Minartz competed for the German National Team in the 1500-meter freestyle event and will add depth to an already talented LSU long-distance squad.
Myles Jaynes, Matthew Rucker and Jared Strecker join the Tigers in the fall after completing their prep careers in New Orleans.
Jaynes and Strecker were each named to the swimming and diving All-America team and attended Jesuit High School where they led the Blue Jays to the state championship in 2001. Jaynes was a Junior National Finalist in 2001 and earned the state championship in both the 200 and 500-yard freestyle events for three consecutive seasons. Strecker was also a Junior National Finalist and won the Louisiana state title in the 100-yard butterfly competition.
Rucker, a native of River Ridge, returns home to Louisiana in the fall after competing for the University of Hawaii last season. The former high school standout will immediately fill a void in LSU’s 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard breaststroke events. Rucker is a Senior National Qualifier in each competition.
Capping the talented men’s swimming and diving class are two of the nation’s best divers from Texas and a world-ranked swimmer from California.
Jace Pitre from Humble, Texas, heads to LSU as a junior college transfer from Indian River Community College. Last season, he won the Junior College National Championship in both the one and three-meter springboard diving competitions. He was named to the All-America team and set the scoring records in both the one and three-meter events.
Pitre will be joined by fellow Texan, Kevin Manecke, on the LSU diving team under the tutelage of the 2001 Southeastern Conference’s diving coach of the year in Scott Reich. Manecke was a state finalist in the one-meter springboard competition last season and earned the prestigious title of being a U.S. Diving Senior National Qualifier.
Steve Worthy, a junior college transfer from Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, Calif., completes the Tigers’ most talented recruiting class of the new millennium. He is currently ranked 99th in the world in the 200-meter butterfly competition and qualified for the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2000.
“Out of the 15 men and women that we signed,” said Cavana. “Most of them are either Olympic Trial qualifiers, senior national qualifiers, junior national finalists or state champions. We have also added some much needed depth to our women’s team. This recruiting class, along with what we have returning, should allow us to improve on both our SEC and NCAA finishes from this past year.”
The LSU women’s swimming and diving program added some much needed depth with this season’s talented recruiting class. With only six returning swimmers from last year’s squad, the Lady Tigers added top caliber athletes in Margaret Beadle, Heather Brand, Bethany Cottingham, Margot Gathings, Lauren Harvey, Cindy Martinez, and Jessica Wantz.
Beadle and Cottingham, the two local products of this year’s recruiting class, represent the best swimmers in the Louisiana high school system. Beadle earned the state championship titles in both the 200 and 500-yard freestyle events and led University High School to a third-place finish at the Louisiana state finals. Cottingham, a native of LaPlace, La., also garnered two state championship titles her senior season in both the 50 and 100-yard freestyle competitions.
LSU signees, Brand and Harvey, join the Lady Tigers all the way from Harare, Zimbabwe. Brand is a national finalist in the 100-meter butterfly event, while Harvey earned the same distinction in both the 100 and 200-meter breaststroke competitions.
Cementing the Lady Tigers’ recruiting class as one of the best in the nation was the signing of Olympic Trial Qualifier, Gathings, and high school All-American, Martinez.
Gathings, a native of Birmingham, Ala., qualified for the Senior National Championships in the 200-meter butterfly and the Junior National Championships in both the 200-butterfly and the 400-meter individual medley. Martinez, a product of Fulshear, Texas, was a state finalist in both the 100 and 200-yard freestyle events and holds 10 of Terry HighSchool’s swimming records.
The lone diver signed by the Lady Tigers during the 2001 recruiting season is Wantz from Houston, Texas. Wantz, the 2001 state champion in the 1-meter diving event, will attempt to fill the vacancy left by former Lady Tiger All-American, Ashley Culpepper. Wantz was a high school All-American and a U.S. Diving Junior National Finalist.
“I feel like we were able to have a great signing class because my staff: Diving coach Scott Reich, and assistant coaches Lars Jorgensen and Heather Johnston, did an outstanding job of recruiting and presenting LSU to these student-athletes,” Cavana said. “I really appreciate their hard work.”
The men’s and women’s LSU swimming and diving teams will begin the 2001-02 dual-meet season on Friday, Sept. 28, as both the Tigers and Lady Tigers compete in the Purple and Gold Intrasquad Meet at 3 p.m. in the LSU Natatorium.