BATON ROUGE, La. – The LSU Swimming and Diving team hosts Tennessee Saturday at 11 a.m. in the LSU Natatorium. Co-Head Coaches Dave Geyer and Doug Shaffer will celebrate the careers of 11 seniors in a ceremony prior to the meet.
These 11 student-athletes represent the first recruiting class by Geyer and Shaffer as head coaches. The group forms a class of LSU record holders, SEC academic honor roll members, NCAA Qualifiers, and SEC finalists.
“This is special senior day for me. This is a group of young women and men that committed to something unknown,” LSU Swimming coach Dave Geyer said. “They took a step to rebuild the program and change the culture into something different. The seniors who are walking through tomorrow stuck with it. There are some transfers mixed in there too that bought into it as well. It will always be my most memorable senior class.”
“This is an opportunity for us to celebrate the success and journey our student-athletes have had in their careers,” Shaffer added. “It’s a special time. The season isn’t over yet though. We are thanking them for everything they did, but we are looking forward to the rest of the season and ending on a high note.”
The LSU women’s team (4-2, 1-2 SEC) hosts Tennessee (4-2-1, 1-0-1 SEC) in a clash of two teams ranked in the CSCAA poll. Kara Kopcso, Caley Oquist and Amber Carter lead the Lady Tigers on the swimming side. Alex Bettridge and Cassie Weil lead the women’s divers.
Oquist and Kopcso are coming off a weekend where they each took two individual events over SMU. Oquist touched the wall first in the 100 back and 200 IM. Kopcso swept the fly events for the Lady Tigers.
Senior women’s captain Amber Carter is swimming in her final home dual meet for LSU. Carter is a three-time NCAA qualifier and a part of the women’s team that set the program in the 400-medley relay last season.
“They (Tennessee) are a quality team and both the men and women are ranked high,” Geyer said. “They return some really strong athletes from NCAA Championships last season. I think we match up really well on the women’s side, and it should be a really exciting dual meet.
Weil and Bettridge are coming off an extremely successful Tennessee Diving Invitational. Weil took first on platform, third on three-meter and fourth on one-meter. Bettridge finished second on one-meter and platform at the invite.
The LSU men’s team hosts the Tennessee Volunteers who are ranked 15th. Seniors Frank Greeff and Daniel Helm lead LSU on the men’s side. In the win over SMU, seven different swimmers won events.
“For the men, this is a position to prepare and battle for SEC Championships,” Geyer added. “We are looking to improve from where we were last week against SMU. We are starting to hit some more race pace training and get past the holiday funk.”
Greeff wraps his career at home as a leader in an out of the pool. The South Africa native served as the men’s captain the past two seasons. He is a two-time NCAA Honorable Mention All-American and holds school records in one individual event and two relays.
Helm is the lone male senior diver. The Beaverton, Oregon native is a two-time SEC medal winner and an NCAA Honorable Mention All-American.
“This opportunity is for us to get back into the groove with our normal schedule,” Shaffer said. We worked really hard this week with February and March in mind. We are also trying to defend our home waters. It’s another competitive experience for us going into championship season.”
Saturday’s meet will include senior day festivities at 10:40 a.m. Also, the first 125 tiger fans will receive “No Splash Zone” tanks and jambalaya.
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