BATON ROUGE — The LSU Swimming and Diving team opens up its Southeastern Conference slate Friday on the road against Florida in the O’Connell Center Natatorium. The men’s and women’s three-meter dive will begin at 2 p.m. CT and swimming events will start at 3 p.m.
The Lady Tigers (1-0) are coming off a dominating win over Tulane where they notched 14 of 16 wins. Senior Amber Carter owns the fifth-fastest 50 free (22.97) and third-fastest 100 fly (54.21) in the country. The captain took home two individual wins and was a part of two relay wins last week.
“On the women’s side, we saw some things from our meet against Tulane that I really liked,” LSU Swimming coach Dave Geyer said. “Our goal is to compete at the level we want to be at.”
Sophomore Kara Kopcso owns the sixth fastest 200 fly time in the country (54.68). Kopcso came in second last week behind Carter in the 200 fly and finished first in the 200 IM.
Sophie Weber dominated the 200 fly last Friday with a time of 2:00.29. Weber’s time is the fourth fastest time in the country and ranks seventh on LSU’s top time list.
Lady Tiger diver Cassie Weil also looks to continue building toward NCAA Championships on one-meter and three-meter. Weil took home the win on three-meter and finished second on one-meter last week.
“This is going to be an exciting event,” LSU Diving coach Doug Shaffer said. Any time you face against a premier program like the Florida Gators it challenges you to have you’re A game.”
The men’s team opens up the regular season against the Gators. Senior and captain Frank Greeff owns school records in the 200 fly, 800 freestyle relay and 400-medley relay. The South Africa native also earned his second All-America honor after finishing second in the ‘B’ final of the 200 fly at NCAA’s.
“This is our first dual meet of the year for the men,” Geyer added. “Florida competed for a national championship on the men’s side last year and they return a very strong team. We are going to have to be at our best to get our hands on the wall first.”
Elliot Dewlen and Matthew Schaefer are the top distance swimmers on the men’s side. Dewlen owns LSU’s fourth fastest 500 free, seventh fastest 1000 free, and ninth fastest 1650 free times. Schaefer also holds LSU’s 10th fastest 500 free, and the fifth fastest 1000 free and mile times.
Sophomores Logan Rysemus, Brandon Goldman and Silas Dejean made an instant impact for the men last season. The trio combined to reach five finals at SEC Championships last season.
Transfer Andrew Suchla is the lone male diver traveling for the Tigers this weekend. The Milwaukee, Wisconsin native scored four points for the Badgers on one-meter last season at Big Ten Championships.
“We are going to be competitive and perform in the moment. I’m excited for Andrew’s first shot facing a conference power like the Gators,” Shaffer added.
The Florida men are the defending SEC Champions and finished third at last year’s NCAA Championships. The Gator women finished third at SEC’s last year and sixth at NCAA’s.
A full recap will be available on lsusports.net following the meet. For more information and updates on LSU Swimming and Diving please visit LSUsports.net, ‘like’ us on Facebook at LSU Swimming and Diving or follow us on Twitter @LSUswimdive.
Order of Events
Diving (3M) – Women & Men
200 Medley Relay
1,000 Freestyle
200 Freestyle
100 Backstroke
100 Breaststroke
200 Fly
50 Free
(1M) Diving – Women & Men
100 Free
200 Backstroke
200 Breaststroke
500 Free
100 Fly
BREAK
200 IM
400 Free Relay