In an emotional swim meet on Friday night, LSU swimming and diving defeated in-state rivals Tulane and Loyola to open the season.
The LSU men’s team defeated Loyola 164-63 to move to 1-0 while the women’s team defeated Loyola 254-34 and Tulane 175-125 to move to 2-0.
“Tulane pushed us,” swim coach Dave Geyer said. “They pushed us harder than they have in a long time. We are not as healthy as we need to be. We have some people not racing, which certainly hurt us in depth.”
The real emotion of the meet came after LSU won, when the Tigers honored freshman team manager Kayne Finley, who has Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, a form of pediatric brain cancer.
The Tigers dedicated the meet to Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, which is September, and after the meet Finley was awarded a letterman jacket by the Tigers.
Finley was diagnosed with DIPG in November of 2016 and has been a part of the LSU swim team since coming to LSU in June.
“It got a little emotional out there,” Geyer said. “Just getting to know him since June, his personality and how he carries himself through this diagnosis has been amazing.”
The Finley family started a foundation for Kayne in February, called Cannonballs for Kayne, which seeks to raise awareness about DIPG.
Olympic athletes such as Ryan Lochte, who was coached by Finley’s father, and swimming teams across the country did cannonballs into the pool to raise awareness.
After the meet, the LSU swimming and diving team and coaches jumped into the pool to honor Finley. Tulane and Loyola swimmers joined LSU in cannonballing into the pool, in a show of mutual support.
‘“It was a special night” said diving coach Doug Shaffer. “I competed in this pool in 1987, I have not competed in it since. This was the motivation for me to get in the pool and how special it was to be a part of that.”
With the injuries, the Tigers treated the event as a building block to start the season.
LSU will not return home for a meet until January 20, for senior day against Texas A&M.
“We are not going to peak,” Shaffer said. “We are not designed to peak. We are looking to February and March. We did a lot of really good things that I saw as building blocks of what we need to do.”
