BATON ROUGE — LSU swimmers Katherine Noland, Morgan McGee and Ben Decker were recognized by the Southeastern Conference Tuesday after their stellar performances at Texas A&M’s Art Adamson Invitational last weekend.
Noland was named the SEC Female Swimmer of the Week, while McGee and Decker were honored as the Female and Male Freshmen of the Week.
“It is great to see our athletes being recognized by the SEC,” LSU head coach Adam Schmitt said. “It is truly an outstanding accomplishment in such a great conference. It bodes well for our present and our future.”
Noland enjoyed arguably the finest meet of her collegiate career, shattering two school records and registering three NCAA ?B’ cut qualifying standards in College Station, Texas. On Day 2 of the invitational, the senior co-captain won the consolation final of the 100-yard butterfly with a school-record and NCAA qualifying time consideration of 53.48 seconds and secured another ?B’ cut in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:48.03. She followed that effort with another record swim on the final day of the competition, overtaking former Lady Tiger Mandy Leach’s 100-free mark set in 2001 with a time of 49.62.
Both of her school-record marks in the 100 fly and 100 free are the fastest times in the conference this season.
McGee earned SEC Female Freshman of the Week honors after recording a pair of ?B’ cut times in the backstroke events. The Shreveport, La., native captured fourth-place in the 100 back with a personal best of 54.54 and swam to a seventh-place finish in the 200 back with a time of 1:57.81. Those times rank as the school’s second-fastest marks all-time in each event.
Decker recorded a pair of top-five finishes in the breaststroke races with a couple of personal-best swims to claim the SEC Male Freshman of the Week award. A product of Kingwood, Texas, Decker touched the wall in 54.91 in the 100 breast to seize fourth-place. He took fifth in the 200 breast with a time of 1:59.08, a mark that has him ranked fourth in the conference.
SEC Athletes of the Week ? Week 6
Female Swimmer of the Week: Katherine Noland, LSU
Female Diver of the Week: Taryn Zack, South Carolina
Female Freshman of the Week: Morgan McGee, LSU
Male Swimmer of the Week: Michael Christy, Tennessee
Male Diver of the Week: Webb Worthington, Georgia
Male Freshman of the Week: Ben Decker, LSU