BATON ROUGE — The LSU Swimming and Diving program spent a majority of their Halloween Weekend volunteering with the local Baton Rouge community.
The team took part in this past weekend’s Juvenile Diabetes Walk, I’m a Good Kid Too Youth Festival and the Civitans Halloween Dance for mentally challenged adults this past weekend.
The Juvenile Diabetes Walk took place at the Old Front Nine on campus. Members of the swimming and diving and track and field teams volunteered at the charity walk. They encouraged walkers participating in the event and helped organize games with the kids. At the end of the event, the student athletes were recognized on stage.
The I’m a Good Kid Too Youth Festival took place at the BREC facility on Gus Young Avenue on Saturday. The Tigers helped man the different stations and served as celebrity guests for the local kids. This event was designed to encourage Baton Rouge youth to make good choices and say no to drugs.
The Civitans Halloween Dance for mentally challenged adults took place on Sunday evening at the American Legion hall. Members of swimming and diving helped decorate the hall, serve dinner to participants, and interacted and visited with the dancers.
“I really enjoyed the opportunities from serving this past weekend for a couple reasons,” senior diver Matt Vieke said. “First, we got to come together as a team and hang out in a setting that we normally don’t get to. This allows us to grow stronger as teammates. Second, being able to be a part and support the community is great. Many think of it as us helping other out, but in all honesty, we get so much out of the experience as well.”
The following athletes attended each event:
Saturday, Oct 29, Diabetes Walk:
Jesse Lyman, Matt Vieke, Shane Coltharp, Chris Mericas, Andrew Muller, Samuel Jardine, Matthew Schaefer, Andrei Tuomola, Steffen Voelkel, Walter Loop, Frank Greeff, Katlin Sepp, Michael Young, John Moore, Tyler Jusselin, Dillon Love, Ben Decker, Zack Wepasnick, Martin Jungfleisch and Simon Diefenthal
Saturday, Oct 29, BREC I’m a Good Kid Too Festival:
Mikayda Mills, Sara Haley, Sean Roddy, Nick Kunkel, Kevin Mihic, Brock Davis, Rick Duran, Raymond DePadua, Timmy Dasinger, Ricardo Alvarado Jiminez, Michael Saco, Craig Hamilton
Sunday Oct 30, Civitan Halloween Dance for Mentally Challenged Adults:
Sean Roddy, Rainey White, Rick Duran, Raymond DePadua, Jesse Lyman, Matt Vieke, Nick Kunkel, Brock Davis, Kevin Mihic, Alex Bettridge, Amber Carter, Katlin Sepp, Marlene Niemi, John Moore, Samuel Jardine, Walter Loop, Tyler Jusselin
The Tigers return to action this Friday at 1 p.m. (CT) as Alabama brings both their men’s and women’s squad to the LSU Natatorium. All admission to homes meets is free.
For more information on the LSU Swimming and Diving program, please visit LSUsports.net, ‘like’ LSU Swimming and Diving on Facebook or follow @LSUSwimDive on Twitter.