BATON ROUGE — The LSU Diving team will jump back into competition as they head to Knoxville, Tenn. for the 2012 USA Diving Winter National Championships and World Cup Trials. Preliminary and qualifying events begin Thursday with the competition concluding on the 22nd.
“This a great opportunity, coming right off of academic finals, for our divers to jump right back into competitive mode,” Diving Coach Doug Shaffer said. “They will compete against the nations elite in the strongest, deepest and most competitive field they have faced this year. The field is huge with 185 divers from all over the country participating. Furthermore, this competition presents another opportunity for us to compete at the Tennessee Aquatic Center, the site of 2012 SEC Swimming and Diving Championships.”
In addition to 10 national titles being awarded, the meet will serve as the final opportunity to qualify for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials and also will be used to select rosters for several 2012 international competitions, including the FINA World Cup in February.
The women’s duo of freshman Alex Bettridge and junior Elle Schmidt will represent the Lady Tigers. Thus far this season, Bettridge has already qualified for Zone Championships in the one-meter, three-meter and platform springboard. Her sensational rookie campaign witnessed a season high three-meter mark of 318.00 against Tulane, one-meter score of 275.33 against Florida State and a total of 229.55 at the Tennessee Invitational.
Schmidt has battled Bettridge for program supremacy and has top three-meter score of 280.05 against the Seminoles, high three-meter mark of 258.60 against Florida and a platform high of 221.95 at the Tennessee Invitational.
The men’s squad consists of five competitors that can stand a top the podium in any given event, which allows for intense intra team competition. Senior Matt Vieke, leads the program this season on the one-meter dive with a score of 330.45 in a meet against Auburn. In last season’s Zone Diving Regionals, Vieke was the Tigers top performer in all three diving events.
A small margin of points behind Vieke, sophomore Daniel Helm boasts a one-meter high of 321.60. He also owns the second highest three-meter mark for the season for LSU (373.50). The Beaverton, Ore. native excelled on the platform dive with a mark of 334.45 in a third place finish at the Tennessee Invitational. As a returning member of the 2011 SEC All Freshman Team, Helm will look to transfer his improved prowess on the national stage as well.
Sophomore Sean McKinney has added to the depth of the squad with season highs against Alabama in both the one-meter (307.13) and the three-meter (338.55).
Junior Jesse Lyman has made impressive strides this season as he recovers from injury and will look to have a break out performance in Knoxville.
The meet format and selection process will operate as follows. In the individual events, divers may prequalify directly into the quarterfinals based on results in past events. Anyone who is not prequalified into the quarterfinals on an individual event can enter the preliminaries to try to earn a spot into the quarterfinals.
The number of spots available on each event varies based on the number of prequalified divers who have registered for the meet. The following number of divers will advance from the preliminaries: one-meter – 19 women, 20 men; three-meter – six women, 11 men; platform – eight women, 20 men.
Results will be available on usadiving.org and divemeets.com.
Sophomore diver Kevin Leong will be competing at the Canadian National Championships as well during the upcoming weekend. Leong in his first season of competition for the Tigers is second in the program on the one-meter (328.80), first on the three-meter (374.25) and second on the platform (294.85).
For more information on Leong and the Canadian Diving Championships, please visit www.diving.ca/english/html/home.htm
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.
Schedule of events:
Winter National Individual Preliminaries – December 15-16
Thursday, December 15
10 a.m. – Men’s 1M/Women’s 3M Preliminaries (Simultaneous Events)
4 p.m. – Men’s Platform Preliminaries
6:45 p.m. – Women’s Platform Preliminaries
Friday, December 16
10 a.m. – Men’s 3M/Women’s 1M Preliminaries (Simultaneous Events)
Winter Nationals December 17-22
Saturday December 17
10 a.m. – Men’s 3M Synchro Preliminary
1 p.m. – Women’s Platform Quarterfinal
4:30 p.m. – Women’s 1M Semifinal
7:15 p.m. – Men’s 3M Synchro Final
Sunday, December 18
10 a.m. – Women’s Platform Semifinal
2 p.m. – Men’s 3M Quarterfinal
6 p.m. – Women’s 1M Final
Followed by Women’s Platform Final
Monday, December 19
10 a.m. – Men’s 3 Meter Semifinal
12:15 p.m. – Women’s Platform Synchro Preliminary
6 p.m. – Men’s 3M Final
Followed by Women’s Platform Synchro Final
Tuesday December 20
10 a.m. – Men’s Platform Synchro Preliminary
1 p.m. – Women’s 3M Quarterfinal
4 p.m. – Men’s 1M Semifinal
7 p.m. – Men’s Platform Synchro Final
Wednesday December 21
10 a.m. – Women’s 3M Semifinal
2 p.m. – Men’s Platform Quarterfinal
6 p.m. – Men’s 1M Final
Followed by Women’s 3M Final
Thursday December 22
10 a.m. – Men’s Platform Semifinal
12:15 p.m. – Women’s 3M Synchro Preliminary
2 p.m. – Men’s Platform Final
3:45 p.m. – Followed by Women’s 3M Synchro Final