BATON ROUGE — LSU swimmer Andrei Tuomola and divers Rebecca St. Germain and Elle Schmidt earned Southeastern Conference All-Freshman Team honors, the league announced Tuesday.
Tuomola delivered top-16 finishes in all three of his individual events at the 2010 SEC Championships last week, including a sixth-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 54.17 seconds. His mark of 53.93 in the prelims was fourth in school history.
He was also the top freshman finisher in both the 50 and 100 freestyle with program top-10 times in both and a member of the men’s third-place 200 medley relay squad. He tied for 10th in the 50 free with a ‘B’ cut of 19.90, placed 10th in the 100 free (43.65) and swam the breaststroke leg on the medley relay, which broke the school record with a mark of 1:26.00.
Tuomola is in strong position to receive an invitation to the men’s NCAA Championships, which begin March 25 in Columbus, Ohio.
St. Germain, the SEC Female Freshman Diver of the Year, was the top freshman finisher at SEC’s in both the three-meter springboard and platform competition. The San Antonio, Texas, native posted a ninth-place finish in the three-meter (309.15) and finished 12th in the platform with a career-high score of 222.25.
Her top scores of 310.95 and 326.03 set earlier this season in the one and three-meter dives, respectively, are ranked fifth all-time in program history.
Schmidt claimed 16th in the three-meter with a 271.65 score and placed 17th in both the platform (197.40) and one-meter (246.75).
Both St. Germain and Schmidt will travel to the NCAA Zone ‘D’ Diving Regional, March 12-14 in College Station, Texas, where they will attempt to qualify for the women’s NCAA Championships.