BATON ROUGE — The LSU Swimming and Diving team travels to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to face Auburn and Alabama. The meet gets kicked off at 11 a.m. on Saturday at the Alabama Aquatic Center.
“It’s going to be one of the most exciting and fastest dual meets in the country,” LSU swimming coach Dave Geyer said. “For our team, it’s just about taking the next step and seeing improvement. It will be an intense environment out there with three SEC programs.”
The 16th-ranked Lady Tigers (1-1, 0-1 Southeastern Conference)) compete against Alabama and Auburn who are ranked 21st and eighth respectively in the latest CSCAA poll. The women’s team is coming off of an impressive showing at the SMU Classic where seven members set times in the top 10 nationally.
Amber Carter owns the second-fastest 100 fly time in the country (52.86). The senior notched a trio of second-place finishes during the Classic and was a part of two winning relay teams.
Kara Kopcso finished third in the 200 fly at the SMU Classic for the fourth-fastest time in the country. The sophomore also finished second in the 200 fly and touched the wall first in the 200 IM at Florida.
On the diving side, Alex Bettridge and Cassie Weil lead the way for the women. In just two dual meets the season, Bettridge owns one first place finish and three second place finishes with her lone win coming on one-meter against Tulane. Weil won three-meter and finished second on one-meter against both Tulane and Florida.
“We’re really looking forward to this meet,” LSU diving coach Doug Shaffer said. ”We’ve trained hard but haven’t done anything different from our in season plan. We’re really looking forward to competing in what should be a great environment this weekend.”
The men’s team is going into its second dual meet of the year after falling to Florida almost a month ago. The Auburn and Alabama men are ranked 17th and 22nd respectively. Auburn traveled to Baton Rouge last season and defeated LSU. LSU swept the Alabama men and women during the 2012-13 season.
Daniel Helm and Andrew Suchla will compete for the Tigers this weekend. Helm is getting his first action this weekend after being redshirted last season. The senior was a medalist on one-meter his junior year and an NCAA Honorable Mention All-American his sophomore year. This is Suchla’s second dual meet for the Tigers. The transfer won one-meter and finished second on three-meter against Florida.
Frank Greeff leads the way for the Tigers on the men’s swimming side. The senior finished second in the 200 fly (1:48.97) and third in the 100 fly (49.89) against Florida.
Brandon Goldman collected the lone win on the men’s side against Florida. The sophomore took home the win in the 200 back (1:49.48). Goldman also finished second in the 200 IM (1:53.07) and third in the 200 fly (1:49.78).
Against Florida, Alex Linge finished second in the 100 free (46.20) and freshman Damen Pheiffer provided a nice second place finish in the 200 free with a time of 1:41.92. Marco Gonzalez also finished second in the 50 free (20.97) and third in the 100 free (46.78). Senior Michael Young touched the wall second in both backstroke events with times of 49.98 and 1:49.80.
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
400 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
(3M) Diving
400 IM
400 Free Relay