BATON ROUGE — The LSU swimming and diving teams return to action after a two-week layoff from competition when they travel to College Station, Texas, to compete in the esteemed Art Adamson Invitational, beginning Friday at Texas A&M’s Student Rec Center Natatorium.
This year’s 11-team field will feature some of the nation’s elite programs as LSU will battle the likes of host school Texas A&M, SMU, Purdue, Washington, the Stanford men, the California women, the Michigan women and diving teams from Ohio State, UCLA and Houston.
Friday’s preliminaries will begin at 10 a.m. (CST), and the finals will follow at 6 p.m.
The 17th-ranked LSU men’s team (1-1, 1-1 SEC) is fresh off its first victory of the season after defeating SEC rival Alabama, 174-124, two weeks ago in Baton Rouge. The women’s squad (0-2-1, 0-2-1 SEC) fought back from a small deficit against the Crimson Tide and rattled off a 1-2 finish in the final event of the afternoon, the 400-yard freestyle relay, to earn a tie. Both squads will look to pick up the pace this weekend as a number of athletes hope to post NCAA qualifying standards.
“Our focus has changed a little bit,” LSU head coach Adam Schmitt said. “From this point forward, we’re really pushing for NCAA ?A’ and ?B’ cuts and going after school records. The Art Adamson Invitational will be a very fast meet, so we’re hoping to pop some great swims against top-flight competition.”
Germans Hannes Heyl and Christoph Lubenau are coming off fine performances versus Alabama and figure to make an impact for the LSU men during the three-day competition. Heyl paced the Tigers to victory against Alabama, sweeping all three of his individual events. The two-time All-American secured first-place in both backstroke races and spearheaded a 1-2-3 LSU finish in the 50 freestyle.
Lubenau, a fellow two-time All-American, swam to victory in the 100 butterfly with a time of 48.93 seconds, the 10th-fastest mark in the country this season.
On the women’s side, senior Katherine Noland and freshman sensation Morgan McGee will lead the charge. Noland has been one of the Lady Tigers’ most consistent performers in individual competition and a valuable contributor to the relay squads. The Deerfield Beach, Fla., native has won five individual races this year, including a pair of victories in the sprint freestyle events against Alabama.
McGee has emerged as one of the top backstroke threats in the conference in her first season. The Shreveport, La., native has taken both backstroke titles in each of her last two meets, and she currently holds the third-fastest 100-back time (55.47) and fifth-fastest 200-back mark (2:00.84) in school history.
In diving, three LSU athletes have already clinched berths to the NCAA Zone Diving Regional in March. Senior Niko Dalman and junior Rachel Ware have each tallied qualifying marks on the one- and three-meter springboards, while freshman Matt Vieke recorded a three-meter qualifying score in LSU’s last meet against Alabama with a 321.23 mark.
Live video streaming of each night’s final rounds will be available free of charge on Texas A&M’s Web site, www.aggieathletics.com. Up-to-date results of the Art Adamson Invitational can be accessed at www.LSUsports.net.
2008 ART ADAMSON INVITATIONAL
Student Rec Center Natatorium
College Station, Texas
Schedule of Events ? Nov. 21, 2008
Prelims ? 10 a.m.
Women’s 500 Freestyle
Men’s 500 Freestyle
Women’s 200 IM
Men’s 200 IM
Women’s 50 Freestyle
Men’s 50 Freestyle
Women’s Three-meter Diving
Men’s Three-meter Diving
Finals ? 6 p.m.
Women’s 200 Freestyle Relay
Men’s 200 Freestyle Relay
Women’s 500 Freestyle
Men’s 500 Freestyle
Women’s 200 IM
Men’s 200 IM
Women’s 50 Freestyle
Men’s 50 Freestyle
Women’s 400 Medley Relay
Men’s 400 Medley Relay
Women’s Three-meter Diving
Men’s Three-meter Diving