BATON ROUGE — Five LSU swimmers earned invitations to the men’s 2009 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, the NCAA announced Wednesday night.
Seniors Christoph Lubenau, Julius Gloeckner and Brandon Selts, junior Sean LeNeave and sophomore Hannes Heyl will represent the swimming team at the national meet, which will be held March 26-28 in College Station, Texas. LSU could potentially qualify more athletes when divers Niko Dalman, Matt Vieke and Brian Gemberling compete at the Zone ?B’ Championships in Knoxville, Tenn., this weekend.
The Tigers will line up teams in both the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays, and four out of the five swimmers will compete in individual competition. The German trio of Lubenau, Gloeckner and Heyl will lead the charge as each has the potential to score points for the Tigers in both relay and individual races.
Lubenau, the program record-holder in the 100-yard butterfly, will go after a top-eight finish and first-team All-America honors in that race this season. The German won the consolation final of the 100 fly at last year’s NCAA Championships and is one of only 11 swimmers in the country to record a mark under 46 seconds in the event this season. In addition, he’ll likely swim one of the legs on the 400 freestyle relay.
Gloeckner and Heyl have each earned the right to swim in the maximum of three individual races in College Station, and both will be valuable contributors to the relays. Gloeckner, a three-time All-American, qualified in the 200 and 400 individual medleys as well as the 200 butterfly, while the versatile Heyl, who captured two All-America honors last season, will swim in three separate disciplines — the 100 backstroke, 100 fly and 100 freestyle.
Selts, another All-American from a year ago, will swim in the 50 freestyle and likely anchor the 200 freestyle relay, and LeNeave, who will make his first appearance at NCAA’s, will play a significant role in both relays.