BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU swimmer Nikola Simic shined at the Serbian Open Championship last week, finishing first in three freestyle events inside the SC Slana bara – Klisa.
Simic, a freshman in the LSU swimming and diving program, competed in the 400-meter freestyle, 800-meter freestyle, and 1,500-meter freestyle. Simic won all three events, clocking two personal bests in short-course meters in the process. He was named Swimmer of the Meet for his efforts.
In the 400-meter free, he finished first with a personal best time of 3:49.19. In the 800-meter free, Simic placed first with a time of 8:07.83. In the 1,500-meter free, he claimed first place with another personal best time of 14:52.65.
Simic, a product of Belgrade, Serbia, has shown incredible promise at the start of his collegiate career. Most recently in the Georgia Invitational, he had two top-12 placements in the 500-yard freestyle and the 1,650-yard freestyle with respective times of 4:18.57 and 14:56.99. Both times were fast enough to be top four times in program history.
His 500-free time ranks fourth in LSU history, while his 1,650-free time is third-best by a Tiger. In addition, Simic also holds the second-best time at LSU in the 1,000-yard freestyle (8:57.60).
Simic and the swimming Tigers return to action in January when LSU travels back to Georgia to compete against the Bulldogs in an SEC dual meet. The meet at the Gabrielsen Natatorium is scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m. CT. Before returning to Athens, the diving Tigers will compete at the Georgia Diving Invitational from January 3 through January 5.