GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The LSU diving corps will open post-season competition with the 2011 Southeastern Conference Diving Championships Friday at the University of Florida’s O’Connell Center Natatorium.
The diving championships will run through Sunday with prelims beginning each day at 10 a.m. (CST). Friday’s session will feature the men on the one-meter springboard and women on three-meter.
Due to venue limitations, the SEC diving and swimming championships will be held separately this year with swimming to be held next week from Feb. 16-19.
LSU is sending its deepest men’s contingent in years as the foursome of juniors Brian Gemberling and Matt Vieke and freshmen Daniel Helm and Sean McKinney will aim to score points for the team. Sophomores Rebecca St. Germain and Elle Schmidt, both All-SEC Freshman Team performers a year ago, will represent the Lady Tigers.
“The conference championship season is an exciting time of year,” head diving coach Doug Shaffer said. “Our training has gone really well, and we were awesome in the pool last week, so I’m very optimistic and excited to see what we can do.
“My goal is to have every Tiger diver score, and we have our deepest men’s squad in my tenure here at LSU. I think we have the potential to get an LSU Tiger in every final.”
Helm enters the post-season with the men’s top scores in the one-meter and platform events and has proven to be one of the top diving newcomers in the conference. A native of Beaverton, Ore., Helm was honored as the SEC Diver of the Week twice during the dual season and currently holds the third-highest platform score in the league (331.40).
Vieke, a product of Indianapolis, enjoyed his best dual season to date with career highs in all three events and will go into Gainesville with the Tigers’ top three-meter score. His mark of 388.20 against Texas A&M last month is third in program history and currently seventh in the conference.
Gemberling, the men’s top diver a year ago, currently ranks second on the squad in both springboard events with scores that are ranked in the top 16 in the league, while McKinney is second on the team in the platform (290.20) and 14th in the conference.
St. Germain, the 2010 SEC Female Freshman Diver of the Year, will spearhead the women’s diving efforts. The San Antonio native holds the seventh-best one-meter mark in the league (308.55) and ranks 13th in the three-meter (326.25).
Schmidt, a product of Mansfield, Ohio, is 10th in the SEC in the one-meter (295.35) and also set a new career high of 293.40 in the three-meter this season.
For updates on LSU’s efforts at the 2011 SEC Championships, visit our Facebook page (www.Facebook.com/LSUSwimDive) or follow us on Twitter @LSUSwimDive. The official site of the swimming and diving championships is http://www.gatorzone.com/.
2011 SEC Diving Championships
Feb. 11-13 – Gainesville, Fla.
Schedule of Events
Friday, Feb. 11
10 a.m. – Men’s 1M Prelims
Noon – Women’s 3M Prelims
4 p.m. – Men’s 1M Final
5 p.m. – Women’s 3M Final
Saturday, Feb. 12
10 a.m. – Women’s 1M Prelims
12:15 p.m. – Men’s 3M Prelims
4 p.m. – Women’s 1M Final
5 p.m. – Men’s 3M Final
Sunday, Feb. 13
10 a.m. – Women’s Platform Prelims
Noon – Men’s Platform Prelims
1:30 p.m. – Women’s Platform Final
2:30 p.m. – Men’s Platform Final
* – All times Central