AUBURN, Ala. — Five members of the LSU women’s swimming and diving team will participate in the 2003 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships March 20-22 at the James E. Martin Aquatics Center in Auburn, Ala.
The meet begins on Thursday with preliminaries at 11 a.m. in six events. Preliminaries in the 1-meter diving competition begin at 1 p.m. and finals begin at 7 p.m. The schedule is the same for all three days of competition.
Junior All-American Stephanie Smith will swim in the 500-yard freestyle on Thursday. Smith is LSU’s all-time record holder in the 500 placed 44th in the 500 at last season’s championships in Austin, Texas. Smith was an Honorable Mention All-American in the 1650 free a year ago. Smith will swim in the 1650 on Saturday.
Sophomore Jessica Wantz, making her NCAA Championships debut, will participate in the 1-meter diving competition on Thursday. Wantz finished second in the 1-meter competition at the 2003 NCAA Zone B Diving Regional last weekend in Auburn. She will also dive in the 3-meter competition on Friday.
Junior Laura Jo Leininger will also make her debut at the NCAA’s and will swim in the 100 and 200-yard butterfly. She will compete in the 100-fly on Friday and the 200 on Saturday. Senior Cissy Schepens will swim in both the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke, swimming in the 100 on Friday and then the 200 on Saturday.
Senior All-American Barb Gorst will compete in both the 3-meter and 10-meter platform competition this weekend. She will dive in the 3-meter on Friday and then the platform on Saturday. Gorst won the platform competition at the Zone B Regional last weekend with a career-high score of 471.25. Gorst won the platform at the NCAA Regional in each of the last two seasons. Gorst placed sixth in the platform at the NCAA Championships last season.
“We are very excited about this group that we are taking to the NCAA Championships and hope that all can do very well,” said LSU head coach Jeff Cavana. “We would love to have all five come back home as All-Americans.”
“The NCAA Championships are the reason that we all work very hard all season and it is truly an honor to be going,” said Cavana.
This marks the 18th-consecutive NCAA appearance for the Lady Tigers and third-straight under Cavana.
2003 NCAA Division 1 Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Thursday,March 20
200-yard freestyle relay
500-yard freestyle
200-yard IM
50-yard freestyle
1-meter diving
400-yard medley relay