BATON ROUGE — The nationally-ranked LSU swimming and diving teams will travel to the University of Houston to take part in the annual Phil Hansel Cougar Classic Invitational, beginning Thursday in the CRWC Natatorium.
The three-day invite will begin each morning at 10 a.m. (CT) with the preliminary sessions, while the finals will be held at 6 p.m. Diving prelims will start at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and 1 p.m. on Saturday.
The 22nd-ranked Tigers will look to defend their Cougar Classic title from a year ago but will face stiff competition from No. 17 Texas A&M and Southern Methodist University as well as Nebraska in diving.
The 22nd-ranked Lady Tigers, who earned third-place at this invite last season, will challenge No. 8 Texas A&M, No. 18 SMU, Houston, Tulane, Rice, New Mexico and the Nebraska women’s divers.
“The coaching staff is excited to see where we’re at physically and mentally at the half way point of our season,” co-head coach David Geyer said. “We are looking at not only competing against some quality opponents but also competing against ourselves and the clock.
“This meet will give us a great perspective of where we’re at heading into the end of the fall semester and looking forward to our conference championships.”
After the first two months of the collegiate season, LSU has six performers with times currently ranked in the nation’s top 25.
Senior All-American Jane Trepp leads the women’s squad as she has enjoyed a fantastic start to her final collegiate season. The Estonian holds the sixth-fastest 50-yard freestyle time in the country (22.86 seconds) and second-best in the conference while also boasting a top-20 mark nationally in the 100 butterfly.
Fellow All-American Amanda Kendall ranks 20th nationally in the 100 free (50.50) and fourth in the conference, while sophomore Sara Haley‘s season best of 2:00.00 in the 200 fly is 20th in the nation and fifth in the SEC.
Senior All-American Hannes Heyl has spearheaded the men’s swimming corps in the first half of the season with impressive performances in both individual and relay competition. The German, who is seventh nationally and No. 1 in the SEC in the 100 fly (48.27) thus far, is a perfect 4-0 in that event this season.
Fellow senior Clint Hallum is also having a solid first half to his final season with the nation’s 19th-fastest time in the 400 individual medley (3:59.28) while also holding team-best times in the 200 I.M., 200 free and 200 breaststroke.
In diving, five members of co-head coach Doug Shaffer‘s crew have already qualified for the NCAA Zone Diving Regional.
Sophomore Rebecca St. Germain, the reigning SEC Freshman Diver of the Year, is among the conference’s top women’s divers as she ranks in the SEC’s top five in both springboard events.
On the men’s side, juniors Brian Gemberling and Matt Vieke and freshmen Daniel Helm and Sean McKinney all hold top-20 scores in the SEC.
Helm, who was named SEC Male Diver of the Week after his performance against Florida on Nov. 4, has emerged as one of the conference’s top newcomers. The Beaverton, Ore., native is second among freshmen in the one-meter (322.20) and third in the three-meter (346.50).
Furthermore, the Cougar Classic will give the Tiger divers their first opportunity to compete in the platform competition this season.