BATON ROUGE — First-year head swimming coach Adam Schmitt finalized the release of the 2004-05 LSU swimming and diving schedule on Thursday morning.
The Tigers will play host to three official home meets, beginning with a double-dual meet against Alabama and Arkansas on Oct. 29.
LSU will compete in the 16th-annual Purple and Gold Intrasquad on Oct. 1, before facing off against each other in the first-annual Pentathlon Meet on Oct. 22.
After entertaining Alabama and Arkansas, the Tiger swimmers will face their first test at the Texas A&M Invitational, Nov. 19-21.
“The A&M Invitational will certainly be a proving ground and turning point for this program,” said Schmitt. “There will be some great teams we have to go up against and judge where we are at as a team.”
The Tiger divers will compete at two diving invitationals, the first of which will be held Nov. 19-21 at Houston, Texas. The divers will also compete against several top-ranked teams in the prestigious Georgia Invitational in Athens to open the New Year, Jan. 3-5.
LSU will travel to familiar foes Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas A&M, while also facing off against Virginia and TCU.
“We have some very talented teams we have to go up against,” said Schmitt. “Virginia is a top-10 team and TCU were champions of Conference USA last year.”
LSU closes out its home schedule on Jan. 29 before gearing up for the SEC Championships, which will be held in Gainesville, Fla., Feb. 16-19.
A month later, those swimmers who have qualified will represent the Tigers at the NCAA Championships with the women getting underway on March 17 at West Lafayette, Ind. The men will follow a week later from Minneapolis, Minn.
“I am excited to get this program off of the ground, starting on Oct. 1,” said the first-year head coach. “We are developing a new culture here, and I look forward to competing in the Southeastern Conference again.”