The LSU men’s swimming team earned 16 All-American awards en route to a 29th-place finish at the NCAA Swimming Championships this weekend.
The Tigers spent an extra day in Columbus, Ohio after meet representatives decided to postpone the first day of the meet because of an illness outbreak among the athletes. The meet started Friday instead of Thursday because of the change.
LSU competed in two relays Friday and placed 15th in both. Freshman Andrei Tuomola, junior Hannes Heyl, senior Sean LeNeave and junior James Meyers finished the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1 minute, 19.51 seconds and the 400-yard freestyle relay in 3 minutes, 11.61 seconds.
Tuomola, LeNeave and freshman Craig Hamilton also competed individually Friday. Tuomola placed 36th in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 19.96 seconds, and LeNeave placed 48th with a time of 20.28 seconds.
Hamilton swam the 500-yard freestyle, placing 47th with a time of 4 minutes, 31.23 seconds.
On the second day of competition, the Tigers placed 14th in the 200-yard medley relay, finishing in 1 minute, 27.32 seconds. “I am proud of how we fought in the relay,” LSU coach Adam Schmitt said in a news release. “It was a tight race, and it was great to come away with four more All-Americans for our team. They are representing LSU very proudly.”
Individually, Heyl placed 17th in the 100-yard butterfly Saturday with a time of 46.85 seconds. Heyl also placed 38th in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 48.75 seconds.
Meyers placed 22nd in the 100-yard backstroke, finishing in 47.57 seconds. Tuomola swam the 100-yard breastroke, coming in at 55.04 seconds to place 34th.
The Tigers came in 16th place in the final relay of the meet, the 400-yard freestyle relay. Their time of 2 minutes, 55.78 seconds earned them four All-American awards.
Heyl, Tuomola, and Hamilton also swam individually Sunday. Heyl placed 20th in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 43.42 seconds, a personal best and the second-best mark in LSU history.
Tuomola finished 39th in the 100-yard freestyle, while Hamilton placed 30th in the 1,650-yard freestyle.
“I thought we had a pretty successful week here at Ohio State,” Schmitt said. “We’re walking away with 16 All-America honors, which I believe is the most we’ve collected in one meet since I’ve been here. Our guys fought hard this weekend. We have a relatively young team with a pair of freshmen who competed here for the first time in their careers, but I think all of our swimmers did a good job representing LSU.”
 
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