BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU swimmers Maggie MacNeil and Ella Varga are set to travel to Toronto Tuesday to represent their country in the Bell Canadian World Trials. The event runs from March 28 – April 1.
MacNeil, who won the 50-yard freestyle national title, completed her collegiate swimming career last week during the 2023 NCAA Championships. She finished her brief LSU career with four school records. Among other accomplishments throughout her storied career, she broke the NCAA, U.S. Open and NCAA meet records in the 50-free during her fifth and final year of eligibility.
Additionally, MacNeil collected silver and bronze medals in the 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard freestyle, respectively. She also was awarded SEC Female Swimmer of the Week four times and broke two short course meters (SCM) world records at World Championships in December 2022.
MacNeil announced she would continue her training with LSU head coach Rick Bishop in the future. In the short term, MacNeil and Bishop are preparing for the 2024 Paris Olympics in hopes of donning MacNeil with her second Olympic gold medal.
Varga, a product of Calgary, Alberta, Canada finished the season with the LSU school mark in the 200-yard backstroke. She achieved that effort at the 2023 SEC Championships, where she took home gold in the event for the first time in program history. Varga earned one of eight gold medals LSU won during the SEC meet.
As a freshman, Varga was invited to compete in the NCAA meet and raced in the 200-yard backstroke and 100-yard backstroke.
MacNeil’s list of events: 50-meter freestyle, 100-meter freestyle, 100-meter butterfly
Varga’s list of events: 100-meter, 200-meter backstroke