BATON ROUGE — The No. 23 LSU women’s swimming and diving team will wrap up the dual-meet season this weekend when it hosts in-state rival Tulane and Texas schools Houston and Rice, beginning Friday at 5 p.m. (CST) in the LSU Natatorium.
The quadruple meet will be held over two days with Saturday’s session beginning at 11 a.m. Admission to the meet is free. The venue is located at the corner of Nicholson Drive and West Chimes Street next to the Carl Maddox Field House and the tennis practice courts.
“We are excited for the women’s last meet of the regular season,” co-head coach David Geyer said. “We are in our final approach leading into the SEC Championships, so we are looking for some sharp performances from them.”
LSU (10-4) has enjoyed a fine dual season, recording double-digit victories for the first time since 1998-99. With a sweep of the Green Wave, Cougars and Owls this weekend, the squad will register its highest win total in program history.
The Lady Tigers fell to eighth-ranked Texas A&M last Saturday, but senior Jane Trepp continued to shine with two more victories in the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard butterfly against top-flight competition.
The five-time NCAA All-American improved to a perfect 7-0 on the season in the 50 free with an impressive dual-meet time of 22.46 seconds. She followed that effort with a 53.72 clocking in the 100 fly.
The Estonian’s top season time in the 100 fly (52.11) is currently No. 1 in the Southeastern Conference and No. 2 in the nation, while her best effort in the 50 free (22.16) ranks second both nationally and in the league.
Freshman Torrey Bussey also performed well in College Station, Texas, racing to a runner-up finish in the 200 breaststroke with a mark of 2:17.00.
Bussey is one of six Lady Tiger swimmers with NCAA provisional qualifying times thus far this season. Trepp, senior Kannon Betzen, sophomores Amanda Kendall and Sara Haley and freshman Cari Blalock also have posted NCAA ‘B’ cuts.
In diving, the sophomore tandem of Rebecca St. Germain and Elle Schmidt will look to deliver victories in springboard competition this weekend.
St. Germain, the SEC Freshman Diver of the Year last season, is ranked sixth in the conference in the one-meter and ninth in the three-meter. Schmidt possesses the ninth-best one-meter score in the league.