FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The LSU swimming and diving teams heads to Fayetteville, Ark., for the SEC West Quad Meet this weekend.
LSU will join host Arkansas, Auburn, and Alabama for the meet on Friday and Saturday at the Arkansas Natatorium. The Quad Meet will consist of events on both Friday and Saturday. Friday’s meet will begin 6:30 p.m. with Off Distance events and relays. The Distance meet will begin at 8 a.m. on Saturday, and on Sunday the meet will start at 10 a.m.
“We are looking forward to this meet this weekend”, said LSU head coach Jeff Cavana. “I am very impressed with our performance so far, especially the women who are undefeated so far.”
Friday’s meet will consist of the 400 medley relay, the 500 individual medley, and 800 freestyle relay. Other events will be the 150 freestyle, butterfly, backstroke and breaststroke. There will also be two diving competitions, the men’s one-meter diving and the women’s three-meter diving.
Saturday’s meet will feature the 3000-yard freestyle. The course will be two 25 yard courses with two swimmers in each lane. Sunday’s meet will consist of 15 events plus women’s 1-meter diving and men’s 3-meter diving. The three meets will be scored separately for men and women. The women will compete first in each event.
LSU is 7-1 on the season after two wins last weekend on the road at Tennessee and Wright State. The Tigers won 3 of 4 meets last Friday at Knoxville, Tenn. against Tennessee and Kentucky. The LSU women beat Kentucky and Tennessee, and the men beat Kentucky. The only loss suffered was by the men to Tennessee. Both Kentucky and Tennessee are ranked in the top 25, and the Volunteers are ranked fifth.
“We are looking forward to facing the best in the West, Auburn has been the men’s NCAA Champions numerous times is the past. This meet will give us an indication of where we are right now.”
The meet also holds extra significance for LSU this weekend. The SEC Championships will be held in Fayetteville February 20-23 at the Arkansas Natatorium.
“We will be able to race and dive in the same pool this weekend as we will in February at the SEC Championships, and this will also be a great atmosphere for the athletes.”
The LSU women already have a win over Arkansas this season. The Lady Tigers beat Arkansas on Oct. 13 at Baton Rouge. LSU won 14 of 16 events and won the meet by a score of 159-86. The men are 2-1 on the season, and the women are 5-0 after three wins last weekend.
“This group of women are great so far, they are a joy to work with. I did not expect for the women to be this good so early in the season, so it is just great.”
LSU won one swimming event at the 2000 meet, and won both diving competitions. Corey Fox won the men’s three-meter event with a score of 304.75, and Barb Gorst won the women’s 3-meter event with a score of 274.05. Alabama was the host for the 2000 West Quad Meet.
“We really have great chemistry right now and we are getting big contributions from a lot of people, especially our freshman.”
LSU will face west-rival Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Nov. 2 following the Quad Meet this weekend.