BOCA RATON, Fla. — The nationally-ranked LSU swimming teams have made the trek to south Florida for their annual mid-season training trip and are set to race multiple squads in the coming days.
LSU will first travel to Florida Atlantic where they will take on nationally-ranked Purdue, Penn, Brown and the host Owls, beginning at 9 a.m. (CST) Wednesday. Following that meet, the teams will hit the road for Miami where the Lady Tigers will challenge host Florida International and Kansas, while both squads take on American University at 3 p.m., Thursday.
The 22nd-ranked Lady Tigers and 23rd-ranked Tigers will race for the first time since they swept the University of Houston’s Cougar Classic Invitational in mid-November.
“We’re looking forward to getting our competitive juices flowing again,” co-head coach David Geyer said. “Coming down to south Florida gives us an opportunity to compete against other schools who take advantage of some great weather and training environment.”
Senior Jane Trepp leads the Lady Tigers, who have six competitors with NCAA provisional qualifying times.
Trepp is recently coming off an impressive performance at the FINA Short-Course World Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates where she claimed fourth overall in the 100-meter individual medley. The five-time NCAA All-American is currently ranked No. 2 in the nation in the 50-yard freestyle and 100 butterfly with sizzling provisional marks of 22.16 and 52.11 seconds, respectively.
Fellow senior Kannon Betzen, sophomores Amanda Kendall and Sara Haley and freshmen Torrey Bussey and Cari Blalock have also recorded NCAA ‘B’ cuts already this season.
On the men’s side, seniors Hannes Heyl and Clint Hallum and sophomores Andrei Tuomola and Craig Hamilton have registered ‘B’ cut times thus far.
Heyl ranks fifth in the SEC with his 48.27 clocking in the 100 fly, while Hallum holds individual medley times in the league’s top 10.
Tuomola, the team’s top performer at the Cougar Classic, is currently third in the conference in the 50 free and 100 breaststroke, and Hamilton possesses the SEC’s fourth-fastest time in the mile race.