BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s swimming and diving recruiting class earned a top-15 ranking from CollegeSwimming.com for the second consecutive year as the website ranked the Lady Tigers’ class No. 14 in the nation Thursday.
“Louisiana State University is a great place to receive a quality education and provides an opportunity to compete and excel in one of the toughest conferences in the country,” LSU co-head coach David Geyer said. “Having our second consecutive top-15 class will lay a true foundation for the future of this program. There is truly nothing better than being an LSU Tiger.”
The Lady Tigers’ signing class of 10 swimmers and one diver features four swimmers ranked among the nation’s top-100 recruits – 2008 Olympic Trials qualifiers Torrey Bussey, Cari Blalock, Emily Schwabe and Andrea Staub.
Bussey and Blalock are two of the top-three prospects from the state of North Carolina, and each boasts multiple lifetime bests comparable to last season’s NCAA provisional time standards.
Bussey, a native of Cary, N.C., is expected to instantly contribute in the breaststroke and individual medley events and brings in top times of 1 minute, 2.17 seconds, 2:14.18 and 2:00.55 in the 100 and 200 breast and 200 I.M., respectively. Blalock, a Wilmington, N.C., product, has lifetime bests of 53.79 in the 100 butterfly, 1:59.59 in the 200 fly and 4:15.68 in the 400 I.M.
Schwabe, a Waukesha, Wis., native, is another talented breaststroker with top times of 1:03.17 and 2:14.90 in the 100 and 200 breast and also possesses potential in the individual medley races.
Staub, who trained at the elite North Baltimore Aquatic Club, is one of the most versatile athletes in the class and will help the Lady Tigers in several individual medley, butterfly and freestyle events.
Kyra Jones, a backstroke specialist from Katy, Texas, will add potential to a talented group of returning backstrokers, as she boasts personal bests of 55.76 and 1:58.71 in the 100 and 200 back, respectively. Fellow backstroker Parker Glass of Mobile, Ala., is a multiple state champion with a top time of 56.94 in the 100 back.
Sprint freestyle swimmers Rainey White (Hoover, Ala.) and Mikayda Mills (Las Vegas, Nev.) are also state champions who will bring in lifetime bests of 23.65 and 23.69 in the 50 free, respectively. White offers upside in the butterfly races as well.
Butterfly specialist Emily Weaner, a multiple state finalist from Gettysburg, Pa., holds a lifetime best of 55.90 in the 100 fly, while in-state product Jesi Kopsco of Mandeville, La., is a multiple state champion and record-holder in the breaststroke events.
The Lady Tigers also signed diving prospect Kimberly Harris. A native of Lido Beach, N.Y., Harris is a Junior Olympic Regional, Zone and National qualifier, and she will compete alongside reigning SEC Female Freshman Diver of the Year Rebecca St. Germain and All-SEC Freshmen Team member Elle Schmidt next season.