BATON ROUGE — The 25th-ranked LSU women’s swimming team is sending sophomore Mary Beck and junior Kannon Betzen to the Bulldog Last Chance Meet, which begins Saturday at 9 a.m. CST in Athens, Ga.
The duo will swim time trials in their individual events to boost their chances of earning invitations to the women’s 2010 NCAA Championships next month and to bolster the Lady Tigers’ aggregate times in relays.
Beck holds NCAA provisional qualifying marks in her three best events – the 100- and 200-yard backstroke and 200 individual medley. The Austin, Texas, native went into this week ranked No. 21 in the nation in the 200 I.M. (1 minute, 58.74 seconds) and No. 25 in the 100 back (53.73).
Last season, approximately 39 swimmers per individual event were invited to NCAA’s, but with several elite conference championship meets still ongoing, Beck will be looking for faster times this weekend to secure her spot at the national meet.
Betzen has a ‘B’ cut in the 100 breaststroke (1:02.12) but will likely need to go faster to receive a bid to NCAA’s.
The women’s relay combination of Jane Trepp, Amanda Kendall, Samantha Goates and Morgan McGee is in good shape to qualify for NCAA’s, as the team’s season best in the 200 freestyle relay is currently eighth in the country. The top 16 relays in each event were invited a year ago.
The Lady Tigers also have provisional marks in the other four relays, but Beck and Betzen could enhance their scoring potential in the medley relays should they qualify.
The 17th-ranked men’s team will not be sending anyone to the Last Chance Meet because the foursome of James Meyers, Andrei Tuomola, Hannes Heyl and Sean LeNeave is in outstanding position to qualify for the men’s championships with currently the third-fastest 200 medley relay in the nation. Freshman Craig Hamilton is also in solid shape to earn a bid with his top time of 15:08.28 in the 1650 free.