LEXINGTON, Ky. — The LSU swimming and diving team opens a four-meet road trip when the Tigers travel to face Kentucky this Thursday at 5 p.m. EST from the Lancaster Aquatic Center.
The LSU men (0-1) will square off against a Kentucky men’s squad that is ranked No. 12 in the nation in the latest CSCAA rankings. The Wildcats (3-1) have quality wins against No. 14 Indiana and No. 24 Alabama.
The LSU women (1-1) own a victory over Arkansas in the team’s only dual-meet of the fall season, while the Lady Wildcats (2-2) will carry wins over Michigan State and Alabama into Thursday’s contest.
Thursday’s meet will also be the first against four top-20 opponents.
“This is a way to swim against the top competition in the country and see where we position ourselves and where we need to improve,” said head coach Adam Schmitt. “This is where we slowly, but surely need to build up the program to be competitive and race with them. It will be a good test.”
Following the meet with Kentucky, the Tigers travel to Knoxville to face nationally ranked Tennessee and Virginia on Saturday at 1 p.m. The road trip concludes with meets at TCU and No. 19 Texas A&M.
LSU owns a 10-4 (.714) all-time record against the Wildcats in men’s competition, while the Kentucky women hold a slim 7-6 advantage over the LSU women. In the last meet between the two foes, both squads battled to a split with the Lady Tigers coming out on top during the 2002-03 season.
“Kentucky has had solid swimmers for many years now,” added Schmitt. “They are a good team. Ultimately, we want to go in there and give the best competition possible but we are also swimming in our races to prepare ourselves for the SEC and NCAA Championships. That is our major goal.”
The full swimming and diving squad officially last competed at the Texas A&M Invitational last November. Both the men and women took home third-place finishes. Since then, the swimmers have endured in competitive training, something Schmitt says the Tigers have progressed on during the break.
“We have done a great job over Christmas training,” said Schmitt. “Things are starting to come together and people really understand that they can do some things now. I am looking forward to it and think they will do a really great job.”