BATON ROUGE – The LSU Swimming and Diving Team announced the signing of three swimmers and one diver that will sport the purple and gold for the next four years. Emil Hassling, Mason Nyboer, Mitchell Mason, and Helle Tuxen will make the trip to LSU and be ready to go for the Fall of 2020.
Emil Hassling will endure a long trip to Baton Rouge. The Sweden native swims year round with Landskrona Simsällskap and is the only Swedish 17-year-old to have broken the 2:00 mark in the 200-Yard IM. He won the gold in the 100 and 200-Yard IM and silver in the 400-Yard IM at the 2018 Swedish Junior Short Course Championships.
“Emil will be joining us all the way from Sweden and also has a broad range of events to help us out in during dual meets,” said Geyer. “He can be a key guy for us in relays and has the ability to race breaststroke and the individual medleys but really can swim well in all four strokes. Again, coming over to the States and starting to focus in on a few events rather than competing so broadly should really assist him in his development at the university level here.”
The younger brother of Braden Nyboer, a junior on this year’s LSU squad, Mason Nyboer is a USA Swimming Scholastic All-American from Catholic High School in Baton Rouge. Nyboer specializes in in distance freestyle and placed second in the 500-Yard Free and fourth in the 200-Yard Free at the 2018 LHSAA Division State Swimming and Diving Championships. Nyboer is also a U.S. Open qualifier in the 400 Free, 800 Free, and 1500 Free.
“Mason chose to stay home as the #1 recruit in Louisiana for the 2020 class,” said Geyer. “I always love having those athletes that understand the passion and commitment it takes to not only represent this university but the great state of Louisiana and stay here for their collegiate experience. Having watched Mason for years, getting him into a college level distance training program will be great for him.”
Mitchell Mason comes to LSU from Clear Lake High School in Houston, Texas. He is a versatile swimmer who has competed in freestyle, backstroke, and breaststroke events as well as IMs. He is a Winter Junior Nationals qualifier in the 100 and 200 Breast.
“Mitchell has already shown some amazing progression with the start of his senior year,” Geyer said. “He has the size we are looking for and know with our great strength program that will fill out and he will be another swimmer for our program that really comes in and excels. He can swim breaststroke for us but also has the ability in the 200 and 500 Freestyle area as well so obviously has a great training background behind him.”
Helle Tuxen will join forces with her older sister Anne, who is a freshman on this years squad, next season for the Tigers. This past summer, the two sisters finished in 13th place on Synchronized Platform with a score of 231.60 and 19th on Three-Meter Synchro with a score of 223.32. Individually, Tuxen is a very decorated diver in her own right. At the 2019 USA FINA Diving Grand Prix, Tuxen came in 14th place on the platform with a score of 200.90. Back in 2016 at the Grand Prix, Tuxen took home the silver medal on the three-meter synchro along with her sister Anne. She was named Norway Diver of the Year in 2016 and 2017. She placed top-eight on platform at the 2018 European Championships. She recorded a top-ten finish at the 2019 European Championships and finished sixth on synchronized platform.
“I am so excited to welcome Helle to the LSU family Swimming and Diving family,” said LSU head diving coach Doug Shaffer. I am excited for her to join forces with Anne and be able to train their synchronized events full time. She is a tremendous talent with a wealth of international experience. She will add immediate strength and depth to our women’s diving squad and I look forward to working with her.”
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