BATON ROUGE, La. — Nine members of the LSU women’s swimming and diving team will travel to Dallas, Texas for the 21st SMU Classic Oct. 17-18 at the Westside Natatorium. Competition kicks off at 6:30 each night and live stats will be available at SMUmustangs.com.
LSU is one of six teams competing in the Classic along with USC, Louisville, North Carolina State, Miami and the host SMU. USC finished fifth, Louisville finished 15th, NC State finished 16th, SMU finished 20th and Miami finished 21st at last season’s NCAA Championships. This is the first time the Lady Tigers have competed to the Classic since the 2006-07 season.
“It’s a great meet and every year is fast,” LSU Swimming coach Dave Geyer said. “We are excited to go back with some really good teams from across the country. This gives us a great opportunity with a lot of the woman swimmers who competed at NCAA’s last year to compete at a unique invite. It’s going to be about stepping up and racing.”
Swimmers Kara Kopcso, Amber Carter, Colleen O’Neil, Leah Troskot, Sophie Weber, Caley Oquist, Danielle Stirrat as well as diver Alex Bettridge will travel to the Classic.
Kopcso owns the fastest 200 fly time and fourth fastest 200 IM time in the country. The sophomore took home wins in both events and contributed 26 points for the Lady Tigers against Florida. Kopcso will compete in the 400 IM, 100 fly, 500 free and 200 fly.
Carter will compete in three individual events over the two days. The senior owns the fifth fastest 100 fly and sixth fastest 50 free time in the country. The Houston, Texas native will also swim the 100 free.
Weber kicks off things on day one with the 400 IM and 100 breast. Weber will come back on day two in the 200 breast and 200 IM. The sophomore owns the seventh and 10th fastest times in each event.
O’Neil is coming into the Classic with the 7th fastest 100 breast time in the country. O’Neil will compete in the 100 breast, 200 breast and 200 IM.
Troskot finished second in the 200 free and third in the 100 free against Tulane. She’ll be competing in the 50 and 100 free over the weekend.
Oquist is the school record holder in the 100 and 200 backstroke. The junior finished second in the 100 back and 200 back against Florida and took home the win in the 100 back against Tulane.
Stirrat touched the wall first in the 200 free and second in the 200 back against Tulane. The junior will compete in the 200 free, 200 back and 100 back this weekend.
Bettridge took first on one-meter and finished second on three-meter against Tulane. The senior owns the program record on one-meter.
For the SMU Classic there will be two heats, the championship and consolation. Each heat will have a representative from each school. All student-athletes will receive points based on their place in the consolation and championship heat.
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:
Friday
400 Medley Relay
400 I.M.
200 Free
50 Free
1 Meter Diving
100 Fly
100 Back
100 Breast
800 Free Relay
Saturday
200 Medley Relay
500 Free
200 Breast
200 Back
3 Meter Diving
100 Free
200 Fly
200 I.M.
200 Free Relay