Competitor Coach of the Month is a recurring SwimSwam feature shedding light on a U.S.-based coach who has risen above the competition. As with any item of recognition, Competitor Coach of the Month is a subjective exercise meant to highlight one coach whose work holds noteworthy context – perhaps a coach who was clearly in the limelight, or one whose work fell through the cracks a bit more among other stories. If your favorite coach wasn’t selected, feel free to respectfully recognize them in our comment section.
The schedule looked brutal for LSU heading into January.
January 9: a Thursday dual against Missouri, ranked #13 for women and #11 for men. Two days later, a road trip to Delta State. Six days after that, another home dual against a ranked opponent: Florida State, ranked #18 on the men’s side. The following day, a battle with SEC foe Texas A&M (#17 women, #6 men).
But through that span, LSU came up with arguably the upset of the season, with the LSU women beating Mizzou 151-149. The next week, the women topped Florida State while the unranked Tiger men came within 4 of upsetting the Seminoles.
Coach Dave Geyer has the LSU men and women surging into the post-season. For the month of January, freshman Niamh Robinson ranks #4 in the nation in the 200 breast (2:10.42) and #19 in the 100 breast (1:01.35), junior Cassie Kalisz #7 in the 200 back (1:55.43), freshman Katarina Milutinovich #13 in the 200 free (1:47.66), freshman Summer Stanfield #17 in the 500 free (4:48.21) and senior Helen Grossman #19 in the 100 fly (53.94). On the men’s side, senior Karl Luht is #1 in the nation over the month of January in the 200 back (1:42.81) and #2 in the 100 back (46.09), junior Luca Pfyffer #11 in the 200 breast (1:58.27), freshman Brooks Curry #14 in the 200 free (1:36.70) and senior Lewis Clough #17 in the 100 fly (47.59).
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