BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s swimming and diving team (0-2, 0-2 SEC) will return to action Friday at 3 p.m. (CT) for an in-state battle against Tulane in the LSU Natatorium.
The Green Wave (0-2) are in their first season since suspending the program in 2005 following the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
“It’s going to be really good to reestablish the Tulane and LSU in-state rivalry,” LSU head coach Adam Schmitt said. “Since they’ve reinstated their program, it’s really nice to be able to have another team to swim within the state.
“I’m looking forward to seeing our women step up again for their third meet and see how they can perform, and hopefully, we’ll come away with our first win.”
Despite falling to SEC powerhouses Auburn and Tennessee in the past two weeks, the Lady Tigers have seen a number of strong performances thus far in the early season as several swimmers have already emerged with NCAA provisional times that currently rank among the nation’s best.
Sophomore Mary Beck has recorded a pair of NCAA ?B’ cuts that rank in the top-five in the nation. The Austin, Texas, native’s school-record time of 1 minute, 57.45 seconds in the 200-yard backstroke is currently the second-best mark in the country and the fastest in the SEC, while her time of 2:01.77 in the 200 individual medley ranks second nationally.
Freshmen Sara Haley, Amanda Kendall, Jana Ruimerman and Rebecca St. Germain are also off to quick starts. Haley, a product of El Dorado Hills, Calif., has collected a pair of victories in the 200 butterfly in her first two meets and enters Friday’s competition with the fastest time in the country in that race, 1:58.81.
Kendall led the Lady Tigers with two wins and a pair of impressive times against Auburn last Friday. The Fairfax, Va., native swam to victory in the 200 freestyle, beating out the reigning SEC champion in that event, Caitlin Geary, with a personal best of 1:49.48. She also captured first-place in the 50 free (23.33).
Ruimerman, a native of Aurora, Colo., earned the win in the 200 back versus Auburn with an NCAA provisional mark of 1:59.07, which is the fourth-best time in school history and the fifth-fastest in the country.
St. Germain has already qualified for the NCAA Zone Diving Regional and ranks in the conference’s top-10 in both diving events with her scores of 285.14 and 298.13 in the one- and three-meter, respectively.
The LSU Natatorium is located on the corner of Nicholson Drive and W. Chimes Street next to the Carl Maddox Field House. Admission is free.