BATON ROUGE — LSU freshman Daniel Helm earned Southeastern Conference Male Diver of the Week honors following his performance against Florida last Thursday, the league office announced Tuesday.
Helm captured his first career dual-meet victory against the Gators with a win in the three-meter springboard and registered second in the one-meter. He edged teammate Brian Gemberling in the three-meter with a career high of 346.50, ninth in school history, and posted a runner-up mark of 309.22 in the one-meter.
“Daniel has transitioned into college diving very well,” co-head coach Doug Shaffer said. “It’s a very big deal to receive the SEC Diver of the Week award as a freshman with such an elite SEC field. Daniel is very driven, so I know this will make him grin and hungry at the same time.”
A former Junior National champion from Beaverton, Ore., Helm has emerged as one of the SEC’s top newcomers as he is ranked second among conference freshmen in the one-meter (322.20) and third in the three-meter. In addition, he is one of four LSU men’s divers who have already qualified for the NCAA Zone Diving Regional in March.