ATHENS, Ga. — The LSU diving team resumes its season with the annual Georgia Diving Invitational, Jan. 6-8, at the Gabrielsen Natatorium.
Events get underway at 10 a.m. CT Friday with the 1-meter and 3-meter preliminaries. Finals begin at 12:15 p.m. CT, while a shootout featuring the top six divers conclude each day’s events at 6 p.m. CT. The platform competition highlights Sunday’s events.
The Georgia Invitational has annually featured the nation’s best divers and this year is no exception. Scheduled to compete with the Tigers are Virginia Tech, Houston, Alabama, Drexel, SMU, Kansas, Pittsburgh, Kentucky, Auburn, East Carolina and North Carolina.
LSU swimmers return to action on Saturday with a double-dual meet against Alabama and Kentucky. Since the Crimson Tide and Wildcats will also be in attendance in Athens, the points scored by all three teams in preliminary diving events will be used toward the dual on Saturday.
It has been nearly a month and a half since the team last competed in an official event. LSU wrapped up the fall season at the Texas A&M Invitational last November. The team then hosted the Bengal Tiger Aquatic Invitational in December and engaged in training during the holiday season.
“This meet always comes at a perfect time because we are right off of a holiday break,” said diving coach Doug Shaffer. “We come back after Christmas and get four or five days of solid training to go into the meet. This is an opportunity for us to come in and be competitive.”
This weekend’s invitational has become a precursor to championship diving events that conclude the season later this spring. Gabrielsen Natatorium also plays significance as the popular venue hosts the Women’s NCAA Championships in March.
“It is always a privilege to come to Georgia,” said diving coach Doug Shaffer. “They have a fantastic facility and run a first-class meet. With those things, along with the level of competition here, it is an experience that we have to do to prepare us for the rest of our championship season.”
Hali Saucier and Andrew Keane are certainly no strangers to the meet and the venue itself. The two have experienced the Georgia Invitational twice and competed in SEC Championships at Athens, which Shaffer says could give them an excellent chance to score this year.
“Competition is always a building experience,” said Shaffer. “Knowing the pool and knowing how things are set up make this not a learning process. They can focus on what they need to do versus having to figure out what you need to do.”