BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s swimming and diving team concludes its preparations for the upcoming Southeastern Conference Championships as the Lady Tigers play host to Houston, Rice and UNO in a two-day quad meet at the LSU Natatorium this weekend.
Schedule of events, similar to those at the SEC meet, begin at 6 p.m. Friday. The meet continues at 11 a.m. Saturday. Admission to the LSU Natatorium is free.
LSU enters the weekend coming off a 175-115 dual-meet loss to No. 5 Texas A&M last Saturday in College Station, Texas. Senior diver Hali Saucier swept both boards posting scores of 303.07 in the 1-meter and 316.47 in the 3-meter.
Last season, the Lady Tigers rallied past Rice and comfortably defeated Houston as the Cougars hosted the event. Both Rice and Houston return the visit this season, while UNO joins the list of competitors.
LSU has won the last 15 meetings against Houston, a streak that dates back to the 1990-91 season. The Lady Tigers’ last loss to the Cougars came on Jan. 13, 1990. The schools have competed against each other in each of the past 23 seasons dating back to 1983.
LSU holds a 22-3 record all-time against the Owls and is a perfect 6-0 against the Privateers since the two schools first met in 1984. The Lady Tigers defeated UNO, 109.5-74.5, at home last season.
LSU’s relay teams bring in several of the nation’s best times. The Lady Tigers’ 200 freestyle group of Katherine Noland, Colleen Bertirotti, Katie Gilmore and Sabrina Messmer rank second in the SEC and 10th in the nation with a time of 1:32.26. That clocking trails only Kentucky in the conference (1:31.73).
Noland, Gilmore, Bertirotti and Sarah Dicharry hold the SEC’s fifth-best 400 free time at 3:24.02, a clocking that also ranks 17th nationally.
Individually, Gilmore ranks fourth in the SEC and 14th in the country with her 50 free swim of 22.89. Saucier and junior Paige Brown are ranked 1-2 in the league in platform diving with scores of 294.30 and 226.85, respectively. Saucier is also tops in the league in 3-meter (340.35) and third in the 1-meter (321.37).
Each of those times and scores has a chance to improve at the SEC Championships, which get underway on Feb. 2 with the diving portion of the event at Lexington, Ky. Swimming events begin on Feb. 7 at the same venue.