The LSU men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams had strong showings in the pool and on the boards Wednesday at the Tennessee Invitational in Knoxville, Tenn.
The three day competition at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center includes preliminary competition in the mornings, followed by finals competitions and team relay events in the evenings.
Going into the second day of competition, the Tigers sit in third place and the Lady Tigers rank fifth.
Junior swimmers Amanda Kendall and Andrei Tuomola led the charge for the Tigers in 50-yard freestyle events, claiming first place in the women’s and men’s championship finals, respectively. Kendall placed first in finals with a time of 22.36, improving on her first place, 25.93 preliminary performance.
Senior Samantha Goates placed second in the 50 free, posting a time of 23.03 after also taking second in the preliminary event.
Tuomola swam to a gold medal in finals with a time of 19.94, shaving nearly three and a half seconds off his first place preliminary finish.
“Having Andrei drop below that 20.0 barrier will definitely give him confidence moving forward,” Geyer said.
The Lady Tiger 200 free relay also placed first. Kendall swam the first leg, followed by freshmen Marlene Niemi and Amber Carter, with Goates touching the wall first to claim gold for the Tigers. LSU swimming coach Dave Geyer said he is pleased with Wednesday’s performances and looking forward to tomorrow.
“All in all I think we will get better each day while we’re here,” Geyer said.
Geyer said it’s beneficial for the Tigers to experience Tennessee’s facilities because it’s also where the Southeastern Conference Championships are held in February.
“It’s great to learn the ins and outs of the facility prior to the SEC’s,” Geyer said.
In the diving well, sophomore Daniel Helm scored a 373.50 on the three-meter springboard, good enough for a fifth place finish and his best six-dive total score this year.
Freshman diver Alex Bettridge placed eighth on the one-meter springboard with a score of 271.45.
Diving coach Doug Shaffer said he was pleased with how the divers competed Wednesday.
“Four of the five men made the finals and that’s a great accomplishment,” Shaffer said. “Alex was solid as a rock in both the prelims and finals and Daniel had a break out performance in the