BATON ROUGE — The LSU swimming and diving teams have signed seven new athletes, head coach Jeff Cavana announced on Wednesday.
The men’s swimming and diving team signed five swimmers while the women’s team signed two. Highlighting the group is Baton Rouge native Kristin Moon, sister of Robbie Moon, who will be a senior on the team next season. Moon attended St. Joseph’s Academy and was a seven-time state champion, four times as an individual and three on relays. She earned All-America honors nine times while at SJA and was a USS State Louisiana Champion four times during her senior season, setting one school record.
Moon led SJA to the state championship this past season and broke six city records, two as an individual and four on relays. She also set two state records as a senior. Moon was named St. Joseph’s “Outstanding Swimmer” three different times in her career. Moon was named the Metro Swim League’s “Swimmer of the Year” as a junior and senior. Moon chose LSU over Florida State and Texas A&M.
“Kristin is one of the best sprinters that we have ever signed and she is also one of the best seniors coming out of high school this year,” said Cavana.
“She will make an immediate impact on our team, both individually as well as helping out our replays,” Cavana said.
“Her accomplishments during her high school career speak for themselves and her coach at Crawfish Aquatics, Jimmy Roberts, has done and outstanding job of getting her to improve every year, ” said Cavana.
The other female signee is Metairie, La. native Jeannine Malbrough. She attended Mt. Carmel and swam for Billy Newport at the Crescent City Swim Club. Malbrough helped lead Mt. Carmel to a third-place finish at the State Championship this past season, finishing fifth in both the 100-yard breaststoke and 200-yard individual medley. She was also a member of the 200-yard medley relay team which finished as the state runner-up.
“Jeannine will add great depth to both our breaststroke and IM events and she also has a very strong academic backsground, ” said Cavana.
The first of the men’s signees is Mark Wayne Sisk, a native of Richmond, Va. Sisk attended the Collegiate School and also swam at NOVA of the University of Virginia swimming team. Sisk earned All-Metro second team honors by finishing as the runner-up in both the 100 and 200-yard freestyle. Sisk is a Junior National Qualifier in three different events.
“Mark Wayne Sisk will be a great asset to our men’s team, not only will he help out in the 100, 200 and 500 freestyle events, but he will also bring out great character and leadership to our team,” said Cavana.
“Mark has shown great improvement every year, and I expect him to continue dropping times in all of his events,” Cavana said.
Ryan Ashby is a transfer from Old Dominion University and is a native of Zimbabwe. He scored in all three of his events at the conference championships this past season, swimming in the 50, 100, and 200-yard freestyle. He chose LSU over South Carolina, East Carolina, North Carolina State, and TCU.
“Ryan is just starting to develop as an elite swimmer and has shown great improvement over the past two years,” said Cavana.
“He will be counted on heavily in our sprint events as well as most of our relays,” Cavana said.
Christian Clausen is a native of Trelleborg, Sweden. He is a Senior National Qualifier and finaled at the Swedish National Championships. His main events are the 50 and 100 freestyle, as well as the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke.
“Christian will add depth to both our sprint events as well as to our breaststroke events,” said Cavana. “We’ve been trying to get Christian to LSU for the past several years and I am glad he’s finally a Tiger,” Cavana said.
Islam Ezzo is a native of Metairie, La. He attended Rummel high school and was the state runner-up in the 50-yard freestyle and also placed third in the 100-yard freestyle. Ezzo was also a member of the state champion 200-yard freestyle relay team. He helped lead Rummel to a third-place finish at the state championships.
“Izzy will add great depth to our sprint events, both individually as well as on our sprint relays,” said Cavana.
Chris Cloutet is a native of Slidell, La and attended Salmen high school. He was the state champion in the 50-yard freestyle and runner-up in the 100-yard butterfly.
“Chris will add depth to both our 100 and 200-yard butterfly events and we are happy to have him,” said Cavana.
The seven newest signees join the five other athletes previously signed by the program, as swimmer Colleen Bertirotti of San Antonio, Texas signed with LSU in December, and diving coach Doug Shaffer signed four divers last month.