CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The LSU swimming and diving team will take part in the 2001 Nike Cup Invitational Nov. 15-17 at the Maurice J. Koury Natatorium.
“This should be a very interesting meet for us at this point in the season,” said LSU head coach Jeff Cavana. “We want to have the best swims of the year at this meet, and we want to see where we are at this point in our season.”
North Carolina will host the meet which will include eight teams. East Carolina, Richmond, Virginia Tech, Kenyon, Kentucky, Syracuse, Duke and LSU will join the host Tar Heels for the event. The meet begins on Thursday with preliminary races at 9 a.m. CST, and final races begin at 5 p.m.
Events on Thursday include the 200, 500, and 50-yard freestyle, as well as the 200 and 400-yard individual medley races. Thursday’s meet will also include both 3 and 1-meter diving for both men and women. Friday’s portion of the meet will consist of seven swimming events including the 800-yard freestyle relay. Women’s 1-meter preliminaries and finals as well as men’s 3-meter preliminaries in diving will be held on Friday.
The meet will conclude on Saturday with five swimming events and the men’s 3-meter diving finals.
“This will be a fast meet,” said Cavana. “This is their (North Carolina) second-biggest meet of the year, and they are always loaded with depth and quality.”
The Tar Heels won the meet last season, and LSU finished third on both the men’s and women’s side. The 2001 meet will include all NCAA Championship events except 10-meter diving.
LSU enters the meet following a trip to Alabama on Nov. 2. The men lost to the Crimson Tide, 157-142, and the women lost, 156-142. The women are 5-1 on the season and ranked 20th in the country in the CSCAA Top 25 poll. The LSU men are 25th in the same poll and are 2-2 this season.
“We want to try to make some NCAA B Qualifying standards in this meet, and maybe set some top 5 times as well. This is a big meet and all our athletes know that.”
LSU’s next meet will not be until January of 2002 against Florida in Baton Rouge. The meet will be men only.