The LSU men’s swimming and diving team finished its season on a high note last weekend, after breaking three school records to finish 18th out of 40 teams represented at the NCAA Championships.
Auburn took the championship in the men’s as well as the women’s competition which took place March 22nd.
LSU was represented by Evan Martinec, Mike Jotautas, Francisco Paez, Matthew Rucker and diver Kyle Van Arsdall.
Martinec earned All-American honors for the third-consecutive season after touching the wall in 47.16 seconds to place sixth in the finals of the 100-yard backstroke. He also broke his own school record again.
Stanford’s Peter Marshall won the race in 45.57 seconds.
The second school record was broken by the 200-yard medley relay team of Martinec, Jotautas, Paez and Rucker in a time of 1:27:81 in the preliminary competition. The team finished eighth in the finals in 1:28.22 to earn All-American honors.
Texas won the race with an NCAA record time of 1:24.46.
The LSU relay team also broke the school record in the 400-yard medley relay in the preliminaries after finishing in 3:13.58. In the consolation final LSU finished 9th in the event with a time of 3:13.58.
The team finished the 400-yard freestyle relay in 18th place.
California won the event in an NCAA record-breaking time of 2:48.99.
“This is really great that we finished in the top 20 at the NCAAs, and even better, that we had great performances from all five guys here this weekend,” said LSU head coach Jeff Cavana.
Van Arsdall earned 433.25 points to finish 12th in the 10-meter platform diving competition. At his previous NCAA appearance in 2001, he finished 23rd in the 3-meter event. Van Arsdall attributes his success to experience and confidence.
“This time I knew what it was going to be like,” he said. “It was a huge meet, but I didn’t feel so overwhelmed this time.”
Van Arsdall, the 2002-03 team captain, said the team’s 18th place finish was the highest in his four years at LSU.
“The relays swam great all weekend long as well as the personal swims,” Van arsdall said. “It was more than I expected.”