BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will open the 2009-10 dual-meet season with Southeastern Conference foe Tennessee at home in separate competitions, beginning with the men’s meet Friday at 4 p.m. (CT) in the LSU Natatorium. The Lady Tigers and Lady Volunteers will compete Saturday at 11 a.m.
The weekend will provide an early test for both LSU programs as Tennessee brings in a pair of squads that finished in the top-15 of their respective NCAA meets last season. The Tennessee men return six All-Americans and 16 letterwinners from a team that finished eighth nationally last year. The Lady Vols, who ended last season in 13th-place, have six All-Americans and 19 letterwinners returning.
“It’s great to have an early meet with an accomplished and perennial top-10 program like Tennessee,” head coach Adam Schmitt said. “We’ll kind of get to see where we stand. Obviously, it’s still very early, and we have a lot of work to do, but it will be fun to race and compete.
“Our teams are both very young, so this weekend will the first opportunity for many of our athletes to see what it’s like to go up against a top-notch team in the SEC.”
LSU All-Americans Hannes Heyl and Sean LeNeave, juniors Clint Hallum and James Meyers and sophomore Ben Decker return to lead the Tigers this season. Heyl and LeNeave each got off to a nice start at the Purple and Gold Intrasquad, helping the Purple team earn the victory. Decker is the team’s top breaststroker, while Hallum and Meyers, two of the Tigers’ most versatile swimmers, can impact a number of individual events and relays.
The Tigers will also look for a number of talented freshmen to tally points against the Vols, particularly international prospects Craig Hamilton and Andrei Tuomola. Hamilton, a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, flashed his upside in the freestyle events at the Intrasquad meet, recording a hat trick with wins in the 200-, 500- and 1000-yard races. Tuomola, a product of Haarajoki, Finland, will be expected to emerge as one of the team’s top sprinters and a vital part of the relays.
The LSU women will be spearheaded by junior co-captains Jane Trepp and Kannon Betzen, and the sophomore trio of Mary Beck, Morgan McGee and Samantha Goates. Trepp, a three-time All-American, holds seven school records and can be a force in three different stroke disciplines, while Betzen returns as one of the Lady Tigers’ top breaststroke and individual medley swimmers.
Beck, a transfer from California who competed at the NCAA Championships last season, should be an impact performer in backstroke, freestyle and individual medley events, and McGee and Goates, the team’s best freshmen a year ago, will be major factors in backstroke and freestyle races as well as relays. Furthermore, the Lady Tigers expect key contributions from gifted freshmen like Amanda Kendall and Sara Haley.
In diving, the LSU men will lean on sophomores Matt Vieke and Brian Gemberling with freshman Jesse Lyman contributing. Gemberling enjoyed a solid start to his season, winning both springboard events at the Intrasquad meet three weeks ago. Freshmen Rebecca St. Germain and Elle Schmidt will pace the women’s diving efforts. St. Germain tallied scores of 294.00 and 260.40 in the three-meter and one-meter, respectively, to hold off her counterpart at the Intrasquad meet.
The LSU Natatorium is located on the corner of Nicholson Drive and W. Chimes Street next to the Carl Maddox Field House. Admission to all swimming and diving meets is free.