BATON ROUGE — LSU’s swimming and diving team looks to build on the momentum it established last week against No. 1-ranked Auburn, as the Tigers travel to Tallahassee, Fla., to face Florida State and Florida International at 3 p.m. Friday.
LSU opened its season last Friday, suffering a sweep to top-ranked Auburn at the LSU Natatorium. Despite the results, the Tigers posted several top swims and gave Auburn a true test.
Sophomore Miko Malberg posted victories in the 50 (20.57) and 100 (45.57) freestyle sprints, and Kevin Braud captured the 200 backstroke (1:48.80).
On the women’s side, Clare Schepens and Sarah Bedell earned wins in the 500 free and 200 breaststroke, respectively.
Two freshmen also proved to have an immediate impact as both Julius Gloeckner and Berit Aljand entered the school’s all-time top 10. Gloeckner recorded the second-fastest 1000 free time in school history, taking second place at 9:23.32. Aljand’s time of 2:01.56 in the 200 back was the fifth-best mark in school history.
“Road trips always reveal the character of your team in any sport,” said head coach Adam Schmitt. “We will see what this team is made of. I think with every meet, we get a chance to see how everyone will perform in what event we put them in. We will have some people in different events this weekend to try to find out more about this team.”
In diving, three freshmen will compete in their first road trip, including Alyson Thomas. Thomas was a double-winner in the meet versus Auburn. Thomas won the 1-meter with a score of 260.99 and followed that up with a first-place finish 3-meter score of 268.80.
“Everybody is really excited to get on the bus, head out of town and go to an opponent,” said diving coach Doug Shaffer. “We have set our sites on doing the best job we can and we plan on using this again as a gauge to see what we need to improve on.”
In the 2004 meeting between the Seminoles and Tigers, FSU defeated both the LSU men and women in Baton Rouge. The LSU women were edged 122-121, while the men lost 137-100.
The Seminoles are coached by two-time LSU Olympian Neil Harper. Harper was a seven-time All-American for the Tigers from 1985-88.
Tiger assistant coach Anne Shawhan is a former Seminole herself. A four-year letterwinner from 1996-2000, Shawhan earned All-America status five times, including three in relays. Before joining the LSU staff in the summer of 2004, Shawhan was an assistant at her alma mater, guiding the Seminoles to top-three finishes in the ACC.
The Florida State men enter the meet ranked No. 17 in the latest Collegeswimming.com rankings, while the women put their No. 21 ranking on the line.
LSU returns to action at the Texas A&M Invitational, Nov. 18-20.