LSU swimming and diving coach Adam Schmitt said after LSU’s first meet Friday that he felt his team had a chance to have a great future because of the difficulty of LSU’s early season schedule.
Against the defending national champion Auburn Tigers, Schmitt’s prediction came closer to coming to fruition as LSU improved its performance for the third straight meet.
“If you look at the results and compare them from last week, you can see that we got faster and continue to improve,” Schmitt said in a news release.
The LSU women’s team lost 176-115, despite senior Hali Saucier and freshman Rachel Ware sweeping the diving events for LSU.
The race was Auburn’s season opener, and Auburn diving coach Jeff Shaffer said he expects improvement from his divers throughout the season.
“I told the divers that this was just a start for us,” Shaffer said. “This is still just our first meet.”
LSU diving coach Doug Shaffer said sweeping the events are a step in the right direction for the team.
“We competed well today,” he said. “It was nice to sweep those events, but I am still focused on the championship season ahead.”
The LSU men’s team lost, 182-110.
Auburn senior Steven Segerlin began his season successfully, setting the tone for Auburn by sweeping the springboard events. Segerlin won the individual national championship last season for Auburn in both the 1-meter and 3-meter dives.
LSU junior team captain Kevin Braud picked up the Tigers’ first win of the day, winning the 100-meter backstroke.
Junior Miko Malberg and sophomore Julius Gloeckner also won individual races for LSU, winning the 50-meter and 200-meter individual medleys, respectively.
LSU’s teams have a combined 32 freshmen and sophomores.
Because of the inexperience, Schmitt said he was pleased with how his team performed against the defending national champions.
“We are about 85 percent underclassmen in our first road meet and against the No. 1 team in the nation,” he said. “This helps reinforce what we are trying to teach and shows our team of what we want our program to be.”
Auburn swimming coach David Marsh said his team has a good chance to repeat as national champions this season.
“This is a good start to our year,” he said. “This is a necessary building block as we again head toward the ultimate goal, which is performing well in the NCAA Tournament.”
—–Contact Casey Gisclair at [email protected]