BATON ROUGE — The LSU men’s swimming and diving team returns to action Thursday at 1 p.m., when the Tigers welcome Southeastern Conference foe Florida to the LSU Natatorium.
LSU (1-2, 0-2 SEC) is coming off its first victory of the season after edging Florida State, 155-145, in the home opener last Saturday. Florida (1-1, 1-1 SEC) picked up its first win last Friday, surging past SEC rival Georgia, 170-130.
Admission to the event is free. The venue is located at the corner of West Chimes Street and Nicholson Drive next to the tennis practice courts and the Carl Maddox Field House.
“We’re looking forward to hosting the Florida men’s team,” co-head coach David Geyer said. “They are one of the premier teams in the country and have their visions on potentially winning a national championship.
“Mid-week meets are always tough for a program, so we will see how our men respond to the challenge. Ultimately this is a great meet that will help us prepare for SEC’s and NCAA’s.”
The Tigers currently have eight swimmers with times ranked in the nation’s top 25 and 11 athletes with top-10 marks in the conference.
Senior Hannes Heyl leads the swimming corps as he is currently the conference’s fastest performer in the 100-yard butterfly (48.27 seconds) and ranks fourth nationally. In addition to winning a pair of events in last weekend’s win over FSU, the German also played a vital role in closing out the meet with an anchor split of 43.80 on the men’s victorious 400 freestyle relay.
Junior diver Matt Vieke and senior Clint Hallum were also instrumental in leading the Tigers to victory. Vieke delivered a clutch victory in the men’s three-meter event toward the end of the meet to turn the score in the Tigers’ favor, while Hallum raced to victory in the 200 freestyle and 400 individual medley.
Vieke is one of three men’s divers who have already qualified for the NCAA Zone Diving Regional in March. Fellow junior Brian Gemberling and freshman Daniel Helm initially posted qualifying scores at Auburn on Oct. 22.
Hallum is sixth in the country and third in the conference with his current season best of 3:59.28 in the 400 I.M. Sophomore Andrei Tuomola also holds a top-five conference time with his season best of 56.12 in the 100 breaststroke.
The Gators return seven All-Americans from a squad that finished fifth at the 2010 NCAA Championships. They are led by senior Conor Dwyer, the reigning NCAA and SEC Swimmer of the Year and a two-time NCAA champion.
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