AUSTIN, Texas — Five members of the LSU men’s swimming and diving team will compete at the 2003 NCAA Division I Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships from March 27-29 at the Joe Jamail Texas Swim Center in Austin, Texas.
Three-time All-American Evan Martinec, seniors Mike Jotautas and Kyle Van Arsdall, junior Matthew Rucker, and sophomore Francisco Paez will represent LSU this weekend. Martinec, a junior from Tacoma, Wash., will be making his third-straight appearance at the NCAA’s, Van Arsdall his second, and Paez, Jotautas, and Rucker will each make their NCAA debut.
Martinec, an All-American in each of the past two seasons, is the school record holder in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 46.98 which he swam at the 2003 Southeastern Conference Championships last month. That time is currently the eighth-best time swam in the country this season. Martinec will compete in the 100-yard backstroke on Friday and will team with Paez, Rucker, and Jotautas in the 200 and 400 medley relay as well as the 200 and 400-yard freestyle relay. The 200 free relay and 400-yard medley relay are scheduled for Thursday, the 200-medley relay on Friday, and the 400-free relay will be on Saturday.
Rucker, a junior from River Ridge, will also swim in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard breaststroke. He is sixth all-time at LSU in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 55.10 which he swam at the SEC Championships. Paez will swim in both the 50 and 100-yard freestyle. He is in the top-10 all-time in the 50, 100, and 200-yard freestyle, with two of those times coming this season. Van Arsdall, LSU’s lone diver on the squad, had a top-25 finish at the 2001 NCAA Championships as a sophomore, and will compete in the 3-meter and 10-meter platform competitions. The 3-meter is set for Friday and the platform on Saturday.
“We are very excited about this group of guys that will compete at the NCAA’s,” said LSU head coach Jeff Cavana. “They have all worked very hard this season and are ready to go.”
“All five guys are very focused and are extremely excited about competing in this meet this weekend,” said Cavana.
Thursday’s schedule begins with the 200-yard freestyle relay, while the final event of the day is the 400-yard medley relay. Preliminaries begin at 11 a.m. each day with the finals following at 7 p.m. Preliminaries in the diving competition begin at 1 p.m.
LSU finished 27th at the 2002 NCAA Championships in Athens, Ga. The Tigers are making their 18th-consecutive appearance at the NCAA’s, and third-straight under Cavana.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS (Thursday, March 27)
200-yard freestyle relay
500-yard freestyle
200-yard IM
50-yard freestyle
1-meter diving
400-yard medley relay