BATON ROUGE — Five members of the LSU swimming and diving teams were named All-Southeastern Conference performers following the conclusion of the SEC championships last weekend, while three freshmen earned SEC All-Freshman Team honors, the league announced Friday.
Senior Jane Trepp claimed Women’s First Team All-SEC honors, while junior Samantha Goates and sophomores Amanda Kendall, Rebecca St. Germain and Jana Ruimerman received Women’s Second Team All-SEC accolades.
Lady Tiger newcomers Cari Blalock and Torrey Bussey were named to the Women’s SEC All-Freshman Team, while Tiger diver Daniel Helm earned SEC All-Freshman recognition on the men’s side.
“Putting a solid core group of girls on the All-SEC Team is a huge accomplishment for this program,” head swimming coach David Geyer said. “The SEC Championships from top to bottom is certainly one of, if not the fastest, meet in the country, and to grab a top-two podium finish or reach a championship final as a freshman means we have some talented women on this team.”
Trepp became the first Lady Tiger swimmer in 14 years to win an SEC individual championship, and she did it in record-setting fashion, breaking the SEC mark in the 100-yard breaststroke with a blistering NCAA automatic qualifying time of 58.94 seconds. She is only the ninth swimmer in U.S. Open history to touch the wall under 59 seconds in that event.
The five-time NCAA All-American also won three more medals in the 50 freestyle, 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay. She helped the women capture silver in the 200 medley relay as she registered the fastest breaststroke split of the field, 26.57, and she paced the Lady Tiger 200 free relay to a bronze finish with a school-record, 50-yard lead-off split of 21.97.
Her top times in the 100 breast, 50 free and 100 butterfly (52.11) are currently ranked second, third and fourth in the country, respectively.
Kendall enjoyed the best meet of her young career last week, earning two individual medals and two relay medals and setting a pair of individual school records in the 100 and 200 free.
The Fairfax, Va., native played a vital role in helping the women’s 200 medley relay claim silver and an NCAA ‘A’ cut with her 22.87 butterfly split, fastest among the field. She also raced to third in both the 100 free (47.90) and 100 butterfly (52.14) and recorded a 21.55 split on the second leg of the Lady Tigers’ third-place 200 free relay squad.
St. Germain emerged as the conference silver medalist in one-meter diving and tallied the second-highest score in SEC meet history with a program-record mark of 331.15. The San Antonio native also advanced to the final of the three-meter with a program top-five score of 328.75.
“Earning a spot on the All-SEC Team is a distinguished honor for Becca,” head diving coach Doug Shaffer said. “She’s worked really hard this season, and it’s a reflection of her continued growth on the collegiate level.”
Goates and Ruimerman were each recognized on the All-SEC team after playing vital roles on the Lady Tigers’ second-place 200 medley relay. Ruimerman led off the backstroke leg with a 25.48 split, while Goates anchored the relay on the freestyle leg with a 21.99 split.
Blalock was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team as the conference’s highest freshman finisher in the 200 fly. The Wilmington, N.C., native delivered fourth overall in that event with the second-fastest time in school history, 1:57.30, while also breaking a 14-year-old school mark in the 400 individual medley (4:12.46) and reaching the championship final of the 200 IM.
Bussey gave LSU its highest finish in the 200 IM, taking seventh with a 1:58.90 clocking. She broke the program record in that event in the prelims with a mark of 1:58.23 and also set a new school mark in the 200 breast (2:11.89).
Helm also received All-SEC Freshman Team honors. The Beaverton, Ore., native took fifth in the men’s three-meter diving competition with a career-high and program top-five score of 380.70
Trepp, Kendall, Goates and Ruimerman have already punched their tickets to the 2011 NCAA Women’s Championships, while several other Lady Tiger swimmers remain in solid position to qualify for the meet. The official psych sheet for the women’s meet will be released on Wednesday, March 2, while the men’s list will be published on March 9.
St. Germain and Helm will attempt to qualify for their respective NCAA meet at the Zone ‘D’ Diving Regional in Austin, Texas, from March 11-13.
2011 Swimming and Diving Awards
Male Swimmer of the Year – Conor Dwyer, Florida
Female Swimmer of the Year – Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, Auburn
Male Diver of the Year – Dan Mazzaferro, Auburn
Female Diver of the Year – Monica Dodson, Florida
Male Freshman Swimmer of the Year – Marcin Cieslak, Florida
Female Freshman Swimmer of the Year – Elizabeth Beisel, Florida
Male Freshman Diver of the Year – Greg Ferrucci, Kentucky
Female Freshman Diver of the Year – Paige McCleary, Alabama
Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year – Dan Mazzaferro, Auburn
Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year – Taryn Zack, South Carolina
Men’s Swimming Coach of the Year – John Trembley, Tennessee
Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year – Jack Bauerle, Georgia
Men’s Diving Coach of the Year – Jeff Shaffer, Auburn
Women’s Diving Coach of the Year – Donnie Craine, Florida
Women’s First Team All SEC
Emily Bos, Auburn
Lauren Norberg, Auburn
Olivia Scott, Auburn
Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, Auburn
Hannah Riordan, Auburn
Lindsey Norberg, Auburn
Caitlin Geary, Auburn
Monica Dodson, Florida
Elizabeth Beisel, Florida
Teresa Crippen, Florida
Morgan Scroggy, Georgia
Chelsea Nauta, Georgia
Melanie Margalis, Georgia
Allison Schmitt, Georgia
Shannon Vreeland, Georgia
Wendy Trott, Georgia
Jane Trepp, LSU
Taryn Zack, South Carolina
Amanda Rutqvist, South Carolina
Jennifer Connolly, Tennessee
Martina Moravcikova, Tennessee
Kelsey Floyd, Tennessee
Lindsay Gendron, Tennessee
Men’s First Team All-SEC
Adam Brown, Auburn
Daniel Mazzaferro, Auburn
Marcelo Chierighini, Auburn
Chris Manning, Auburn
Karl Krug, Auburn
Stuart Ferguson, Auburn
Drew Modrov, Auburn
Kohlton Norys, Auburn
Marco Loughran, Florida
Conor Dwyer, Florida
Marcin Cieslak, Florida
Brett Fraser, Florida
Balazs Gercsak, Florida
Sebastien Rousseau, Florida
Bill Cregar, Georgia
Mark Dylla, Georgia
Martin Grodzki, Georgia
Michael Wright, Tennessee
Ryan Harrison, Tennessee
Brad Craig, Tennessee
Women’s Second Team All-SEC
Vanessa Dantin, Auburn
Micah Lawrence, Auburn
Anna Aguero, Auburn
Shara Stafford, Florida
Jamie Bohunicky, Florida
Sarah Bateman, Florida
Emily Montesinos, Georgia
Megan Romano, Georgia
Jana Ruimerman, LSU
Amanda Kendall, LSU
Samantha Goates, LSU
Rebecca St. Germain, LSU
Aleksa Akerfelds, Tennessee
Men’s Second Team All-SEC
Jared White, Auburn
Adam Klein, Auburn
Tony Cox, Auburn
Kyle Owens, Auburn
John Santeiu, Auburn
Bradley deBorde, Florida
Scott Sommer, Florida
Conor Signorin, Florida
Ryan Helms, Tennessee
Samuel Rairden, Tennessee
Michael Christy, Tennessee
Geoff Sanders, Tennessee
2011 SEC All-Freshman Teams
Women
Paige McCleary, Alabama
Kristel Vourna, Alabama
Kesha Naylor, Arkansas
Emily Bos, Auburn
Olivia Scott, Auburn
Elizabeth Beisel, Florida
Hilda Luthersdottir, Florida
Alana Pazevic, Florida
Patricia Regan, Florida
Ann-Perry Blank, Georgia
Shannon Vreeland, Georgia
Melanie Margalis, Georgia
Torrey Bussey, LSU
Cari Blalock, LSU
Rachael Schaffer, South Carolina
Amanda Rutqvist, South Carolina
Lindsay Gendron, Tennessee
Lauren Solernou, Tennessee
Men
Devan Terry, Alabama
BJ Hornikel, Alabama
Alex Coci, Alabama
John Santeiu, Auburn
Zane Grothe, Auburn
Chris Manning, Auburn
Connor Signorin, Florida
Marcin Cieslak, Florida
Bradley deBorde, Florida
Eric Solis, Florida
Jameson Hill, Georgia
Will Freeman, Georgia
Greg Ferrucci, Kentucky
Daniel Helm, LSU
Samuel Rairden, Tennessee