BATON ROUGE — The LSU swimming and diving team hosts Delta State in the final home dual meet of the fall season at 3 p.m. Friday in the LSU Natatorium.
The Lady Tiger women enter the weekend with a 1-1 dual-meet record, while the Tiger men hold a 1-2 mark this season. Both were defeated by Georgia last Friday in Baton Rouge, but LSU garnered national attention this week when the first College Swimming Coaches Association of America rankings were released.
The LSU men earned a No. 19 national ranking in the first dual-meet poll of the season, and the LSU women were narrowly close to the Top 25. The Lady Tigers were just two votes away from 25th.
“Our dual-meet schedule has been one of the toughest in the country,” said LSU head coach Adam Schmitt. “The fact that the coaches out there are recognizing us as one of the top 20 programs is a special thing to see that we are turning it around. We have some competitive swimming and diving going on, and we are on our way up.”
Junior Katherine Noland was named Southeastern Conference Female Swimmer of the Week on Wednesday for her efforts against the Lady Bulldogs. The announcement marked the second consecutive week LSU produced an SEC Swimmer of the Week. Junior Kevin Braud earned the honor after the Tigers’ victory at South Carolina on Oct. 13.
“It is phenomenal that we have had SEC Swimmers of the Week two weeks in a row,” said Schmitt. “It tells you the direction of the program this early in the season. She (Katherine) is maturing as an athlete and understanding that she is a junior and has to be a leader of this team. She has really stepped it up quite a bit.”
Noland contributed to a sweep of relays against Georgia, including helping the Lady Tigers shattered the 400 medley school record. The group of Noland, Monica McJunkin, Kannon Betzen and Katie Gilmore broke the old mark in the event with a first-place time of 3:44.69. That time eclipsed the previous mark of 3:45.79 swam in 1999 and ranks first in the SEC.
The LSU women are also tops in the league in the 200 freestyle relay. Noland, Gilmore, Sabrina Messmer and Jane Trepp swam a time of 1:34.07 last Friday. Noland’s split of 23.51 ranks seventh in the league. Gilmore is sixth in the 50 free with a time of 23.49. In the 100 free, Noland currently holds the third-fastest clocking in the SEC (50.71).
Meanwhile, the LSU men’s swimmers also rank among the league’s best times. Heading into the weekend senior Miko Malberg is second in the 50 free (20.39). Malberg holds one of four LSU times in the top 20 of the 50 free.
Malberg, Braud, Roy Chambers and Christoph Lubenau join the women’s team with the fastest 400 medley relay time in the SEC. Their mark of 3:22.20 is two full seconds better than that of second place Georgia.
Individually, freshman Luis Gonzalez holds one of the top-five fastest 1000 free times in the conference. His time of 9:21.35 ranks fifth in the SEC and is the third-fastest clocking in school history. Braud holds the fifth-best 200 back time (1:50.08), and Lubenau enters the weekend with the fifth-fastest 100 butterfly mark (49.30).
Junior diver Niko Dalman ranks in the top five of the league in both events. Dalman’s mark of 314.10 in the 3-meter is the fourth best in the SEC. His score of 306.23 in the 1-meter is the fifth-highest mark. All three LSU men’s divers ranks in the top six of the SEC in the 3-meter.
LSU holds an 8-1 advantage all-time against Delta State, which includes a perfect 4-0 record on the women’s side. Last season, LSU swept the Statesmen and Lady Statesmen by a score of 175.5-108.5 on the men’s side and 181-106 on the women’s side. The Tigers’ only loss to Delta State came on the road in 2003-04 by a 58-55 decision.
Delta State, coached by Brian Hein, placed 14th (men) and 18th (women) at the NCAA Division II Championships last March.
“They are a solid Division II program,” said Schmitt. “There has been a long-term relationship between LSU and Delta State swimming. They have a lot of Louisiana kids that swim up there. It will be an exciting environment, and I think they are looking forward to the opportunity to swim us.”