After a fifth-place finish at the Southeasern Conference Championships, the LSU diving team is headed to Austin, Texas, to compete in NCAA Zone ‘D’ Diving Regionals.
Sophomores Rebecca St. Germain and Elle Schmidt are representing the Lady Tigers at Regionals, while the Tigers are sending freshmen Daniel Helm and Sean McKinney and juniors Matt Vieke and Brian Gemberling.
Zone ‘D’ Regionals, which feature divers from 20 different schools, serve to qualify divers for NCAA Championships. Seven men’s divers and 11 women’s divers will advance to Nationals from the Zone ‘D’ Regional.
“This regional is a very big meet with an elite field of 69 competitors,” LSU diving coach Doug Shaffer said in a news release. “But our training has gone well over the past few weeks, and we’ll be ready to go starting tomorrow.”
St. Germain will lead the Lady Tigers into the competition after posting strong scores at last month’s SEC Championships and being named Second Team All-SEC.
St. Germain won a silver medal at SEC Championships in the 1-meter competition with a program-record score of 331.15. The score was also the second-highest meet score ever.
The men will look for Helm to score points, as he finished fifth in the 3-meter competition with a top-five program score of 380.70. He was also named the SEC All-Freshman Team.
The meet will be held at the University of Texas’ Jamail Swimming Center, which is where the women’s NCAA Championships will take place.
“It’s great to be in Austin for the Zone Regional,” Shaffer said. “It’s a terrific atmosphere that will really add to our excitement and make us step up even more as we strive to qualify for the NCAA Championships.”
While the diving team is competing in Zone Regionals, the swimming team is preparing to send its largest contingent to Nationals in over 15 years, with nine Lady Tigers and two men competing.
Senior Jane Trepp will look to lead the Lady Tigers after a strong performance in the SEC Championships. Trepp earned a gold medal in the 100-yard breastroke at SEC Championships with an SEC-record time. She is seeded third in the 50-yard freestyle, fourth in the 100-yard breastroke and seventh in the 100-yard butterfly.
Sophomore Amanda Kendall will also look to earn points at Nationals after earning four medals at SEC Championships. Kendall is seeded fourth in the 100-yard freestyle, sixth in the 50-yard freestyle and eighth in the 100-yard butterfly.
The men are sending senior Hannes Heyl and sophomore Craig Hamilton to Nationals.
Heyl is returning for his fourth-straight year and will compete in the 100-yard butterfly, 100-yard backstroke and 100-yard freestyle.
Hamilton will make his second appearance at Nationals after qualifying for the mile freestyle race at Georgia’s Last Chance Meet. Hamilton will also swim in the 500-yard freestyle.