BATON ROUGE, La. – In the wake of the fourth season under head coach Rick Bishop and the third season under diving coach Drew Livingston, LSU swimming and diving opens its 2024-2025 season with the annual Purple and Gold Intrasquad Saturday morning at the LSU Natatorium.
“We are really excited to get the 2024-2025 season underway,” Bishop said. “The Purple and Gold meet will be a great opportunity to see where we are at this early point in the season before traveling to compete against a different opponent. It also offers the chance to enjoy a bit of short-course racing with our teammates.”
Fans are welcome to see the newest edition of the program Saturday at 10 a.m. CT. Doors open to the facility an hour before the start of the meet, and a select number of fans who arrive early will receive a t-shirt with a Tiger head on the front.
Live stats will be available on the MeetMobile app and posted to LSUsports.net after the meet’s conclusion.
The Tigers boast an impressive number of newcomers, along with veterans including captains Mitch Mason and Griffin Curtis on the men’s side and Reagan Sweeney and Jenna Bridges on the women’s side.
LSU is coming off two top-25 finishes at the NCAA Championships, where 17 swimmers and divers competed for national titles. At the women’s national meet, LSU saw diver Montserrat Gutierrez Lavenant claim the runner-up position on platform for the second-straight season. Lavenant, who returns for her fifth season, earned three All-American finishes on each diving discipline.
Joining Lavenant, the women’s team had five other All-Americans in the pool including Megan Barnes, Maggie Buckley, Michaela de Villiers, Katarina Milutinovich, and Reagan Osborne. On the men’s side, a group of eight Tigers claimed three All-American honors.
The diving Tigers excelled at the 2024 SEC Championships, collecting each medal earned by an LSU athlete with five total. Lavenant claimed the sole gold medal by finishing first in the three-meter dive with a score of 314.35. She also took home silver in the platform dive (304.80) and bronze in the one-meter dive (310.55).
Carson Paul picked up the other two medals (one silver and one bronze) after finishing second and third, respectively, in the three-meter dive and platform dive.
Lavenant and her diving coach, Drew Livingston, both earned recognition from the SEC office following the season. Lavenant was named the SEC Female Diver of the Year, and Livingston received the distinction of SEC Women’s Diving Coach of the Year for the second season in a row.
LSU swimmers and divers combined to break 13 school records in Coach Bishop’s third season. The comprehensive list includes Jovan Lekic (500 free), Silas Beth (1000 free), Curtis (200 IM, 200 back), Mason (100 breast), Lavenant (platform), and Barnes (200 free, 500 free). The Tiger men also broke relay records in the 200 free, 800 free, 400 medley, 200 medley, and the women broke the 800 free relay school mark.
The October dual meets begin on October 11, when LSU welcomes Texas to the LSU Natatorium. The meet is scheduled for a 1:30 p.m. CT start on the swimming side, while diving will begin at 12:30 p.m. CT. The doors will open an hour before the diving events start.