BATON ROUGE, La.- The LSU swim team will compete this Friday and Saturday, traveling to Fort Myers, Florida for the FGCU Classic at the FGCU Aquatics Complex. The team will compete on Friday at 4:30 p.m. CT followed by a 9:30 a.m. CT start on Saturday. The men and women’s team will also compete against Loyola in New Orleans on Saturday at the University Sports Complex at 1 p.m. CT.
“I think it’s going to be a fun meet down in Florida,” said LSU swimming coach Dave Geyer. “We might have to battle the elements a little bit with an outdoor pool, but I think we’re excited about it. We got some great teams coming down and some great competition. It’s a unique format just having 12 swimmers on the men’s and women’s side, so depth is going to be a little bit of an issue. It’s going to be an exciting time to get up and race and see where we are for the women, (competing) two and a half weeks after the meet against Vanderbilt. For the men, it’s the first time to jump up on the blocks and see what we’re about.
“For the trip to Loyola, I think it’s a great little meet. There’s not a lot of swimming and diving programs in Louisiana, so anytime you have a new one pop up, I think it’s important to show some support to go down there and compete in-state and keep that relationship going.”
The men’s team returns senior Logan Rysemus for his final season after earning NCAA Honorable Mention All-America honors in the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke. LSU also returns 200 and 400 medley record holder in senior Silas Dejean, as well as All-SEC Freshman Thomas Smith.
The women’s team (1-0) is led by seniors Kara Kopcso and Leah Troskot. In the meet against Vanderbilt, Kopcso placed first in the 200 free and 100 fly, posting times of 1:50.73 and 54.67 respectively. Troskot notched first place finishes against the Commodores in both the 50 free and 100 free with times of 23.78 and 51.27.
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