BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s swimming and diving team finished the regular season ranked No. 19 in the country in a poll released by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America Monday.
The Tigers have now closed out four straight regular seasons ranked in the national poll. The LSU women also finished the dual-meet season in the national rankings as the Lady Tigers were tabbed No. 25 in the final women’s poll released just before the 2010 SEC Championships on Feb. 16.
The Tigers registered a 3-6 dual-meet record this year but faced six squads that finished the season in the national rankings, including four in the top 15. In addition, the LSU men emerged victorious at the University of Houston’s Cougar Classic Invitational in November, outdueling nationally-ranked squads Southern Methodist and UNLV, and 12 athletes earned either NCAA provisional qualifying times or Zone qualifying scores in diving.
The men’s team is currently waiting to see who will qualify for the men’s NCAA Championships, which will be held March 25-27 in Columbus, Ohio. The official psych sheets for the meet will be released on Wednesday, March 10.
The Tigers’ relay tandem of James Meyers, Andrei Tuomola, Hannes Heyl and Sean LeNeave is a near lock to receive an invitation to the meet as the foursome is currently ranked in the nation’s top 16 in four relays, including sixth in the 200-yard medley relay. Freshman Craig Hamilton, who is currently 18th in the country in the 1650 freestyle, is also a possibility to qualify.
Divers Brian Gemberling and Jesse Lyman will attempt to qualify at the NCAA Zone ‘D’ Diving Regional, which begins March 12 in College Station, Texas.
CSCAA Final Men’s Rankings
1. Arizona (19)
2. Texas (4)
3. Stanford
4. California
5. Florida (2)
6. Auburn
7. Michigan
8. Virginia
9. Ohio State
9. Georgia
11. Minnesota
12. Tennessee
13. North Carolina
14. USC
15. Florida State
16. Louisville
17. Purdue
18. Texas A&M
19. LSU
20. Alabama
21. Kentucky
22. SMU
23. Virginia Tech
24. UNLV
25. Princeton