Before the Southeastern Conference Diving Championships, LSU diving coach Doug Shaffer said he had the strongest squad he’d ever taken to the event while at LSU.
 
The LSU men’s and women’s diving teams lived up to that description this weekend and took fourth place and eighth place, respectively, at the tournament in Gainesville, Fla.
 
The Lady Tigers were led by sophomore Rebecca St. Germain’s efforts. St. Germain finished with a silver medal in the 1-meter springboard competition.
 
“I couldn’t be happier with the performances of Becca and Daniel [Helm],” Shaffer said in a news release. “Becca really rose to the occasion, breaking the school record and coming away with her first SEC medal.”
 
The second-place finish was St. Germain’s first medal in the SEC Championships.
 
St. Germain, last year’s SEC Freshman Diver of the Year, earned a mark of 331.15 for her six-dive total.
 
Her score beat the LSU record in the event and was the third strongest score at an SEC championship meet ever under the current six-dive format.
 
She was less than six points short of the winner, Taryn Zack of South Carolina. Zack set an SEC record with her score of 336.55.
 
“The entire final was a nail-biter, and she went dive for dive all the way to the end with Taryn Zack,” Shaffer said. “It was one of the best women’s 1-meter competitions I’ve seen.”
 
St. Germain wasn’t the only LSU diver that saw success in Gainesville.
Helm finished fifth for the Tigers in the 3-meter springboard competition. The freshman recorded a personal-best score of 380.70 in the finals after notching a score of 348.65 in the prelims.
 
“Daniel was on fire today,” Shaffer said. “He definitely learned a lot from his first career finals appearance and really set the stage for his bright future.”
 
Freshman Sean McKinney tied for 10th in the prelims of the same event, while juniors Brian Gemberling and Matt Vieke finished 15th and 22nd, respectively.
 
Sophomore Elle Schmidt finished 15th in both the 3-meter springboard and the platform competitions.
 
While the ninth through 16th place finishers don’t advance to the finals, they do record points toward the overall team scores.
 
The LSU swimming team will compete in the SEC Swimming Championships in Gainesville this Wednesday through Saturday.
 
The SEC Swimming Championships will be LSU’s last event before the Last Chance Meet on Feb. 26 and 27. The site of that meet has yet to be determined.
 
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Contact Albert Burford at
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