The LSU swimming and diving team will send six Lady Tiger swimmers and one diver to the NCAA Championships in Auburn, Ala., beginning today.
Junior Sara Haley and sophomore Torrey Bussey will compete in individual swims – Haley the 100- and 200-butterfly and Bussey the 200-individual medley and the 100-and 200-breaststroke – while senior Samantha Goates, sophomore Rainey White and freshmen Amber Carter and Marlene Niemi will comprise the Lady Tiger 200-freestyle relay team. Goates, Carter, Bussey and Niemi will also swim the 200-medley relay.
Swimming coach Dave Geyer said the six women participating have a good chance to put LSU swimming and diving on the leaderboard with points from a variety of events.
“We have an opportunity to score some points and compete at the highest level possible,” Geyer said. “The women going are focused.”
Geyer said previous years at the meet have proven that if swimmers swim their “seed times,” they are in prime position to score. He pointed specifically to Haley, seeded No. 20 in the 200-butterfly, as an athlete who simply needs to swim her seed time to have an excellent opportunity to score.
While focused fully on the task at hand, Geyer pointed to the competing swimmers as tools for the future. The diversity of the swimmers going – one senior, one junior, two sophomores and two freshmen – give Geyer a positive outlook for the future of LSU swimming, according to Geyer.
“It’s always good to try to gain that experience for years down the road,” Geyer said. “It definitely looks brighter for the future.”
Freshman Alex Bettridge will be the lone diver competing for the Lady Tigers, coming off a strong performance at the NCAA Zone ‘D’ Regional.
Diving coach Doug Shaffer said all the season’s work leads up to this point, and now he considers the NCAA Championships as “lagniappe.”
“Our expectation and goal going into this year was to get to this opportunity,” Shaffer said. “Now it’s all fun and gravy.”
Shaffer said Bettridge’s goal is to score and place in the top 16. Shaffer said she has the ability to do just that in two of her three events and added that the competition she faced at the Zone Championships will help her immensely.
Shaffer also said that Bettridge, the Southeastern Conference Freshman Diver of the Year, has talent and experience beyond her years and predicted her rise to elite status.
“I knew that when she got into an environment, when she got to be a student-athlete, she should blossom,” Shaffer said. “It’s the caliber of athletes we wanted to recruit.”
 
____ Contact Chandler Rome at [email protected]