BATON ROUGE — In what will be its third meet against a Top 5-ranked squad, the LSU men’s swimming and diving team takes on No. 5 Florida at 1 p.m. Thursday from the LSU Natatorium.
The meet is slated to consist of a 13-event order, beginning with the 400 medley relay and culminating with the 400 freestyle relay. One-meter and three-meter springboard diving will also be featured.
The Tigers enter the meet looking for their first win of the season. However, LSU has performed well against two teams that finished in the top three at the NCAA Championships last spring.
Second-ranked Stanford defeated the Tigers to open the year, and LSU then turned in a tough duel against defending national champion Auburn on the road.
“Hitting heavy (competition) early is not a bad thing,” said head coach Adam Schmitt. “It makes a statement. Our schedule is pretty balanced but it just so happens in the first five weeks we have these tough teams. We are excited about the opportunity to race this competition.”
Sophomore Julius Gloeckner was named LSU Athlete of the Week as voted by a panel of local media after winning the 200 individual medley against the nation’s top-ranked team (1:52.36). Gloeckner also placed second in the 200 butterfly (1:51.33) and third in the 200 breaststroke (2:07.02).
Juniors Miko Malberg and Kevin Braud recorded individual wins as well. Malberg won the 50 free in a time of 20.84, while Braud was first in the 100 backstroke with a clocking of 50.21.
Thursday’s event will be the ninth time out of the past 14 meets that LSU has gone up against a ranked team in dual-meet competition. Florida, who returns six All-Americans, opened the season with a convincing win over No. 8 Michigan in Ann Arbor last weekend.
“The greatest thing about it is bringing such quality competitors to our campus,” added Schmitt. “That is where we are starting to turn it around. It will continue to prepare us in the long run.”