BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU swimming and diving heads to Florida today to compete in team’s second and third dual meets of the season.
Both teams will travel to Tallahassee on Friday Oct. 14 to take on Florida State at 2 p.m. (CT). The following day LSU will compete in the Tiger’s first SEC dual meet of the year in Gainesville against the University of Florida at 12 p.m. (CT).
“Florida State historically has been a rivalry for us on the men’s and the women’s side,” Head Diving Coach Doug Shaffer said. “With Florida we’re going into their pool and they are a nationally ranked program. They have been for a number of years.”
The Lady Tigers are coming off an impressive 193-98 season opening win over Tulane. The women’s squad finished 14th at the NCAA Championships and fifth at the NCAA Championships last season.
Four returning NCAA qualifiers in senior Samantha Goates, juniors Sara Haley and Jana Ruimerman and sophomore Torrey Bussey will be leading the team over the weekend. Junior standout Amanda Kendall will miss the events and will be in Guadalajara, Mexico for the 2011 Pan American Games beginning on Oct. 15.
Haley won a pair of individual events against Tulane and aided LSU to first-place finishes in two relays to earn SEC Female Swimmer of the Week honors. She won the 200 butterfly in 1:59.51 and earned gold in the 500 freestyle (4:59.00). Haley, LSU’s record holder in the 200 fly, swam the front leg of the 400 free relay and the back of the 200 medley relay, earning 40 points for the Tigers against Tulane.
On the diving side, freshman Alex Bettridge was honored as the SEC Female Freshman of the Week. In her first collegiate meet, Bettridge notched the sixth highest three-meter dive score (318.00) in program history. Her six dive score qualifies her for Zone Regionals.
Following the best season on the men’s side since 2005 where they placed fifth at the SEC Championship and 26th at the NCAA Championship, the Tigers are eager to begin competition. Junior swimmers Craig Hamilton and Andrei Tuomola lead a squad that introduces nine newcomers. On the diving side, senior Matt Vieke and sophomore Daniel Helm will lead a quintet of competitors.
Hamilton holds the LSU program records in the 500 free (4:22.17), 1000 free (9:06.59) and 1650 free (15:02.32). 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.
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.
Last season, the women’s team won 12 of 16 events to emerge victorious over Florida State, 176-124, while the Tigers edged out the Seminoles with clutch performances down the stretch to prevail, 155-145.
“Any particular year, men or women, it can really go either way,” Shaffer said. “We’re very well matched teams and programs. Last year we were fortunate to have a pair of wins at home.”
LSU graduate Neil Harper coaches Florida State. Both the men’s and women’s Seminoles teams finished third at the ACC Championships. The men’s squad completed their NCAA Championship run in 23rd place, just three spots ahead of the Tigers.
On the men’s side, Florida State returns senior Mateo De Angulo, who swam at the FINA World Championships in Shanghai, China representing Colombia. He competed in the 200 meter, 400m and 800m freestyle events.
On the women’s side, three-time NCAA qualifier in the 100 and 200 backstroke Stephanie Sarandos returns. Joining the Seminoles from Southern California is junior Ariel Rittenhouse, who was an 2008 Olympian and competed in the 3-meter synchronized event for the United States.
“We’re going there, so they obviously have the home pool advantage,” Shaffer said. “It is outdoors, so it is a different environment for us. We’re very well matched up. It’s going to be a very good competition. It will come down to the last race.”
Florida has consistently been a swimming and diving power under the 14 year tutelage of head coach Gregg Troy.
During the 2010-11 campaign, Florida emerged victoriously in 11 of 16 events to defeat the LSU men’s team at the LSU Natatorium 160-136. Tuomola earned a pair of individual victories against the Gators. The Haarajoki, Finland, product swept the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle with times of 20.75 seconds and 45.71, respectively.
Both the Gators men’s and women’s team finished second at the SEC Championships last season. The men’s teams finished fifth and the women’s team finished seventh at the NCAA Championships.
Florida returns eight All-Americans on the men’s side and 10 on the women’s side, including two members in Sebastien Rousseau and Jeffrey Raymond from the NCAA Champion 800 free relay.
“They have been SEC Champions and NCAA Champions,” Shaffer said. “That is an elite level program that will require us to focus and bring our ‘A’ game.”
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