BATON ROUGE — The LSU swimming and diving team held its annual Awards Banquet to honor the 2001-02 squad last week, handing out 10 individual awards to members of the team.
Three-time All-American Mandy Leach received the Most Valuable Female award. Leach, a senior from Harare, Zimbabwe, was an All-American in the 100-yard butterfly this season, placing 11th in the event at the 2002 NCAA Championships in March. She was named to the All-Southeastern Conference second team for finishing second in the 100-fly at the 2002 SEC Championships. Leach also swam the 50-yard freestyle in a time of 23.05 at the SEC Championships, a school record. Leach has been chosen to compete in the 2002 Commonwealth Games, which will be held this summer in Manchester, England.
Sophomore Evan Martinec was named the Most Valuable Male for this season. Martinec earned All-America honors in the 100-yard backstroke after placing eighth at the 2002 NCAA Championships. He set a school record in the 100-backstroke with a time of 47.31. He also finished fourth at the SEC Championships in the event.
Junior diver Barb Gorst was given the “Clutch” award for the women. Gorst placed sixth in the platform diving competition and 15th in the 3-meter diving at the NCAA Championships, earning her first All-America distinction. Gorst also won the platform at the SEC Championships, as well as placing fourth in the 1-meter and fifth in the 3-meter. Gorst was named the 2002 SEC Female Diver of the Year last week.
Junior Kyle Van Arsdall received the “Clutch” award for the men. Van Arsdall scored in all three diving events at the SEC Championships. His best finish was fourth in the platform competition. Sophomore Stephanie Smith was named the Most Improved Female on the team. Smith, a native of Metairie, La., made her first-career appearance at the NCAA Championships, and was named an All-American for the first time in her career after placing 13th in the 1650-yard freestyle at the NCAAs. Smith also finished seventh at the SEC Championships in her first appearance there. Smith set two school records in the 1650 and the 1000-yard freestyle.
Chris Stanczyk was named Most Improved Male by the coaching staff. He scored for the first time in his career at the SEC Championships, in two events. He swam the 100-yard freestyle in 45.00 and finished the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 1:38.43. His time in the 200 is the fifth-best time in school history.
The”Coaches” Award for the women went to sophomore Laura Jo Leininger. She scored in both the 100 and 200-yard butterfly at the SEC Championships. Leininger’s time in the 100-fly is the second-fastest in school history. Senior Steve Gluck won the Coaches Award for the men. Gluck swam in the 100-yard breaststroke at the NCAA Championships and also scored in two events at the SEC Championships. Senior Holly Winters won the Academic Excellence Award for having a 4.0 GPA for the spring and fall semesters and has an overall GPA of 3.97 for her four-year career. Robbie Moon was the other recipient of the award, after having a 3.3 GPA in the fall and has an overall average of 3.55.
“All of these swimmers and divers are very deserving of the awards that they won,” said head coach Jeff Cavana. “They have all worked very hard this past year, not only in the pool and on the boards, but in the classroom as well. The coaching staff is very proud of all of their accomplishments.”
Both the LSU men and women finished the season ranked in the nation’s top 30 this season.