BATON ROUGE — Following the best season on the men’s side since 2005 after placing fifth at the SEC Championship and 26th at the NCAA Championship, the men will look to replace a plethora of competitors with the maturation of a deep junior class and an influx of talented newcomers.
“It is going to be a challenging year,” co-head coach Dave Geyer said. “We lost a core group of seniors, including Hannes Heyl who was a sub 45-second butterfly swimmer and an NCAA All-American. We have Craig Hamilton as our only returning NCAA scorer. I think with some of our freshmen and transfers coming in, we have the potential to have a great season. It has to be a team effort to buy into our philosophy and come together as a unit.”
The Tigers core is comprised of Hamilton, senior Simon Diefenthal, juniors Nick Kunkel, Sean Roddy and Andrei Tuomola. Tiger fans should become familiar with the five-deep diving squad that will join the swimmers.
Versatile senior Matt Vieke will be joined on the springboard by sophomores Daniel Helm, Jesse Lyman, Sean McKinney and Kevin Leong.
Coming off of an impressive dual-meet schedule that witnessed the team fighting to a 6-5 record, the men’s squad will face off against conference foes Alabama, Auburn and Florida as well as non-conference powers Florida State and Texas A&M. The team will enjoy four home meets spanning the season including the season opener against Tulane Sept. 30.
“We have an excellent competition schedule which will provide our athletes with plenty of opportunity for success while being challenged by some of the nations elite,” Shaffer said. “Our dual meets are the building blocks, and our invitationals directly prepare us for the SEC and NCAA Championships which is our ultimate focus.”
FREESTYLE
Tuomola and sophomore Michael Saco will battle for intra-squad supremacy in the sprint freestyle events this season.
The Haarajoki, Finland native, Tuomola proved to be the team’s fastest sprint freestylist for the second straight season. He delivered seventh in the 50 free (19.83) after qualifying with a program top-10 mark of 19.71 and claimed 11th in the 100 free (43.88) at the SEC Championships. During his freshman campaign he was LSU’s top freshman performer and a member of the SEC All-Freshmen team while posting a 100 free time of 43.65 at the SEC Championship, which was good enough for fourth best in program history.
“I know my personal goal for Tuomola is to try to knock down some school records,” Geyer said. “He improved in the 50 free last year and fell short of qualifying for the NCAA Championships. I know that is on his mind this year.”
Coming off of injury, Saco was still able to qualify for the SEC Championships despite not improving his top times from high school and the junior national circuit. He registered a career best of 44.93 to take 19th in the 100 free at SEC’s and finished 24th in the 50 free with a career best of 20.35.
“The entire second half of the year and even through most of the summer, Coach Asti and I nursed Saco back to health and made some changes in his stroke,” Geyer said. “We have him thinking a different mentality when it comes to swimming. For his sophomore year we are looking for greater contributions in the sprint freestyles.”
South African freshman Frank Greeff will accompany the duo in the sprint freestyle competitions as well as the 200 free.
Hamilton and fellow junior Kevin Mihic, Diefenthal and Dassinger will be joined by freshmen Dillon Love as the top competitors for the 200 free.
The real strength of the Tigers’ freestyle component stems from the prowess of distance swimmer Hamilton, who holds LSU’s program records in the 500 free (4:22.17), 1000 free (9:06.59) and 1650 free (15:02.32). Senior Rick Duran, Dassinger, sophomore Shane Coltharp and freshmen Matthew Schaefer and Samuel Jardine will complement Hamilton in the various distance free swims.
Hamilton emerged as one of the top underclassmen milers in the country while earning his first career All-America honors with an honorable mention 15th place finish in the 1650 free at the NCAA Championships. He raced to ninth in the mile race at SEC’s (15:14.96) and claimed 12th in the 500 free.
In his first season after transferring from Florida Atlantic, Duran, added quality depth to the distance freestyle ranks after delivering third in the 1000 free at Texas A&M with a season-best 9:34.29 clocking and a season best of 4:40.94 in the 500 free.
Dassinger improved from his sophomore season and placed 30th in the 500 free (4:35.00) at the SEC’s and claimed runner-up honors in the 1000 free in a victory over American.
BACKSTROKE
The backstroking duo of Diefenthal and Kunkel will lead the backstroking unit that also includes junior Chris Mericas, junior Brock Davis, Dassinger, Coltharp, Saco and freshman Michael Young.
Diefenthal was LSU’s top 200 backstroker for the third straight year and also made tremendous strides in the 100 back. He posted personal bests and top-five program times in both backstroke races when he swam to a pair of top-16 finishes in the backstroke races at SEC’s.
“Diefenthal has continually progressed every year that he has been here,” Geyer said. “He really came in as developmental swimmer, and has gotten faster every year. He has tasted some of the higher levels of competition in our conference.
Kunkel delivered 13th in the 200 back at SEC’s with a personal-best 1:46.74 clocking, sixth in program annals. He also swam to a personal best and another program top-10 time of 49.22 in the 100 back to take 20th.
The Sydney, Australia native, Young boasts top times of 55.55 and 1:59.62 in the short-course 100m and 200m back, respectively.
“Young came highly recommended from some local club coaches in the US that worked with him,” Geyer said. “He has developed continuously since we began recruitment his senior year in the backstroke events. From what we’ve seen on the water and the dry land, he has a great work ethic.”
BREASTSTROKE
As well as being the top spring freestylist in the program, Tuomola will battle Roddy for program dominance in the 100 breast. Senior Steffen Voelkel, junior Zack Wepasnick, junior Ben Decker, who sat our his sophomore season due to personal reasons and is back after emerging as the Tiger’s best breaststroker his freshman season, and sophomore Walter Loop make up the backstroking corp. Transfer Ricardo Jiminez will add some punch to the group as well.
Tuomola raced to sixth in the 100 breast (53.99) at the SEC Championships enroute to posting the fourth best mark in program history.
Roddy earned eighth in the 100 breast (54.22) at the SEC Championships after gaining entry with a personal-best 54.16 clocking, fifth all-time at LSU, in a swim-off victory and claimed 12th in the 200 breast (2:00.08) after qualifying with a personal best of 1:59.31, sixth in school history.
“Roddy has bought into our philosophy as a team and as a program,” Geyer said. “He is trying to relay all of that to the team and get everyone on board together. He had a break through year his sophomore year.”
Voelkel put together his best season last year with new personal bests in both breaststroke events at the SEC Championships. He swam to 18th in the 100 breast with a time of 55.90 and 19th in the 200 breast with a mark of 2:03.04.
Decker was one of only two freshmen to reach the ‘A’ final of the 100 breast at the SEC Championships in 2009 where he placed eighth in that event with a time of 54.44. He qualified for that race with a career-best time of 54.23, fifth-best in school history. He posted an 11th-place finish in the 200 breast at SEC’s with a mark of 1:59.64
The Veracruz, Mexico native, Jiminez owns a best 100 breast time of 54.48 and a top 200 breast time of 2:00.87.
“He had a tremendous midseason meet at Arizona as a freshman,” Geyer said. “He is going to add to our breaststroke core. We’re excited to see what he can do with a full season of training and a clear mindset. He seems to love everything and is appreciative of being here, which is always pleasant to have around the pool deck.”
BUTTERFLY
Senior Martin Jungfleish and Dassinger return as the top fly athletes on the men’s side.
The Bremerhaven, Germany native, Jungflesih was LSU’s leader in the 200 butterfly for the second straight season. He barely missed qualifying for a second swim in the 200 fly at SEC’s, finishing 17th with a personal best and program top-10 mark of 1:47.11. He also placed 20th in the 100 fly (49.07).
Dassinger registered 22nd in the 200 fly at SEC’s with a personal best and program top-10 time of 1:48.73.
Mericas and a quartet of newcomers including transfers Andrew Muller and Raymond DePauda along with freshmen Tyler Jusselin and Greeff will bring increased competition in the fly event.
Muller, who competed the past two seasons at the University of Hawaii, earned a personal best at the Conference USA Championships (Feb. 24-27) after finishing 17th in the 200 butterfly (1:56.84).
DePauda, the 2011 NJCAA national champion in the 200-yard butterfly at Daytona State, clinched the National Championship in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 1:51.42.
Greeff brings a ton of verstatily to this year’s squad. He is currently ranked third in his native South Africa in the short-course 200m butterfly and seventh in the long-course 200m fly for the 2010-11 season. He is a talent who brings with him top times of 2:03.28 (LCM) and 2:00.75 (SCM) in the 200m fly.
“We’re excited to have him and that work ethic,” Geyer said. “He is already bought into our program as far as that butterfly goes. He has some personal goals that we’ve talked about. We’re looking at the 2016 Olympics for him, but he thinks that if he gets into the right environment and pushed the right way that he could compete in the 2012 Olympics. If that is his mindset coming in this year as a freshman, we’re going to see some results from that in the short course pool as far as conference and NCAAs in the butterfly.”
INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY
The Tigers clear leaders in the individual medley competitions are Roddy and Kunkel. Two of them notched the second and third best times in the program last season in the 200 IM. Coltharp is the only returning athlete who posted a top-three time for the year in the 400 IM.
Roddy placed 20th in the 200 IM at SEC’s with a lifetime best and program top-10 mark of 1:49.33.
Kunkel, primarily a backstroker, made strides his sophomore year in the 200 IM as well. He touched the wall in third in the 200 IM in a win over American.
Coltharp competed at the SEC Championships as an exhibition swimmer and recorded a season best of 3:59.54 in the 400 IM. He captured third place honors in the 400 IM at the Cougar Classic.
Decker, Greeff, Jiminez and freshman Tyler Jusselin will also contribute in the IM. events.
RELAYS
One of the important components of last year’s team was the strength of the relay teams. After the departure of the majority of the members of the relay team, the Tigers will work all season to mix and match to find the right group of athletes.
The only certainty surrounding the relays is that Tuomola will be a part of at least four relay teams. The question lies in what position of the relay will Tuomola swim in.
“He is going to be a key player on four of our relays,” Geyer said. “He’ll contribute in both medleys, probably anchoring them depending on what Sean Roddy does with breaststroke, and in freestyle relays as a potential leadoff depending on his flat start 50 and 100 freestyle.
Roddy, Saco and Hamilton return as the three other swimmers who have relay experience from last season under their belts. Roddy swam the second leg of the 400 medley relay team at the SEC Championships. Saco competed in the final leg of the 200 free relay that posted a top time of 1:19.11 for the year at the Bulldog Invite. Hamilton participated in the second leg of the 800 free relay team at the SEC Championships.
DIVING
Arguably one of the most talented group of divers in program history will look to take the next step and send multiple athletes to the SEC Championships and the NCAA Championships.
Vieke, recognized as the top men’s scholar-athlete in all of LSU Athletics and named the Tiger Athletic Foundation Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year, also registered career-high scores in all three events and proved to be LSU’s top performer at the NCAA Zone ‘D’ Diving Regional. He Earned the first alternate position to the NCAA Championships with a sixth-place finish in the one-meter (661.40) at Zone’s, recorded 10th in the three-meter with a combined score of 657.20 and tallied 315.30 points in the one-meter to claim 11th at SEC’s while placing 22nd and 24th in the three-meter and platform, respectively. He delivered the third-highest score in school history in the three-meter, 388.20, to capture runner-up honors at Texas A&M.
“I really believe Vieke through out his career has been on the cusp of breaking through,” Shaffer said. “I think he is set up, with what he has done this summer and last year. The fact that he is healthy for a lot of these things he is has been yearning for to fall into place. Matt should final at SEC Championships. I am confident that this is the year that Matt will qualify and score at NCAA Championships.”
Helm proved to be the Tigers’ top freshman performer and one of the top newcomers in the conference. He was a member of the SEC All-Freshmen Team and twice named SEC Diver of the Week. He recorded fifth in the three-meter competition at SEC’s with a career high of 380.70, which was fourth in school history, delivered 11th in the platform (291.00) and placed 17th in the one-meter (279.25).
The Beaverton, Oregon native posted an eighth-place finish in the platform at the NCAA Zone ‘D’ Regional with a combined score of 571.00, tallied a two-round total of 618.50 to claim 10th in the one-meter and finished 12th in the three-meter (652.35).
“Through out the dual-meet season, he was a diver you could count on to come through,” Shaffer said. “I look for him to continue to develop. We all need to hone our skills a little bit more on platform, and that comes with maturity. I feel that Helm along with Vieke are real contenders for the NCAA Championships.”
McKinney will look to improve on his strong freshman season. He scored in two of three events at the SEC Championships and qualified for the NCAA Zone Diving Regional. He dove to 10th in the three-meter at SEC’s with a 332.90 score and notched 16th in the one-meter (282.25). He delivered a career-best performance (329.15) in the one-meter at Texas A&M to take third.
“I’m looking for McKinney to capitalize on his development,” Shaffer said. “He narrowly missed qualifying for the finals at SEC Championships his first year. He did a real nice job with that and matured. He developed physically a little more. I look for him to increase his performances at the conference level.”
Lyman redshirted this past season after sustaining a leg injury. He made significant strides his freshman season while notching points for the Tigers in all three events at SEC’s. He took 15th in the platform and earned 16th in both springboard events.
“Lyman recovering from knee surgery last year has made some really good progress,” Shaffer said. “I’m hoping that progress continues to move forward and we can put the injury behind us. He needs to have some consistency in his training. He is fiercely talented and athletic. Jesse will really have the opportunity to contribute to our program in the pool.”
Leong also redshirted this past season and will compete for LSU for the first time this upcoming season.