The LSU swimming team will jump right in to its season with a meet at No. 10 Georgia on Friday. Following the meet with the Bulldogs, the Tigers immediately travel to Clemson on Saturday.
The Bulldogs have several internationally renowned athletes on their squad, including sophomore Mary DeScenza, who finished fourth in the 200-meter butterfly at the World Championships. The Bulldogs senior team captain Kyle Salyards broke the Pan Am record and took the gold this summer in the 200-meter breaststroke in a time of 2:13.37.
However, the Tigers are a young team with several freshmen joining the women’s team this season.
Senior co-captain Stephanie Smith said she is excited about leading the newcomers. Smith said she will try to make sure everyone stays positive and hopefully lead them in the right direction. She said facing Georgia in the season opener will be no easy task.
“They’re an all-around good team,” Smith said of the Bulldogs. “If we stay together as a team and stay positive, anything can happen. We have a lot of new people and there’s no telling what anyone can do.”
Smith also looks to lead the team in the pool. Last season she was given All-American honorable mention after finishing 13th in the finals of the 1,650-yard freestyle at the NCAA Championships. She owns the school record in the event with a time of 16:25.47.
All-American senior Evan Martinec returns with a chance to break his own school record in the 100-yard backstroke. Martinec said this weekend will be difficult, but he is looking forward to this season.
“We’re looking pretty good right now,” Martinec said. “We have to keep it up.”
Martinec was a member of the 200-yard freestyle relay team that finished eighth place in the NCAA championships and broke the school record with a time of 1:28.22. Senior Matthew Rucker also was a member of the 200-yard relay team.
Co-captain and senior Chris Stanczyk hopes to continue his success after finishing with the team’s best time in the 100 and 200-yard freestyle events at the 2003 SEC Championships, finishing in a time of 45.00 in the 100 and 1:38.43 in the 200.
The diving team will not compete in Georgia. Instead they will meet the team in South Carolina on Saturday. LSU diving coach Doug Shaffer said with an almost entirely new team, the season opener will give him a better gauge on where his team is at.
“For as early as it is in the season, we’re right on track,” Shaffer said. “It was a good test at the Purple and Gold intra-squad, but Clemson will step that up a little more. It will be a good early meet experience.”
The only returning diver is junior Jessica Wantz. Wantz had an outstanding sophomore year, finishing fourth in the 3-meter event at the NCAA’s.
Wantz, like Smith, will have to lead a large group of newcomers with two new female divers and a brand new men’s diving team.
“It’s a lot of pressure,” Wantz said. “It’s way more expectations in and out of practice.”
Freshman diver Andrew Keane, a Washington native, does not know what to expect from his first collegiate competition.
Freshman diver Hali Saucier said she just wants to maintain the improvements she has made in practice at the meet.
Senior swimmer Cackey Miltenberger said the Georgia meet will be a tough meet, especially since it is a double distance meet with longer events.
“We’ve never done a long course meet,” said Miltenberger.
Miltenberger said Clemson will be a good matchup for the Tigers. She said competing two days in a row will be tiring, but LSU usually has several meets on the schedule that are back to back. Clemson’s men finished 7-4 last season while the women ended 7-6.