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Latvian record holder Nikolass Deicmans has signed with Kentucky for the recruiting class of 2026.

Deicmans holds the Latvia national record in the 200 backstroke at 2:01.18 at the 2026 Lithuanian Championships, breaking his own record of 2:01.52 from the 2025 Lithuanian Championships.

He is also the Latvian record holder in the SCM event, swimming 1:53.47 earlier this month at the Latvian Championships to take three seconds off Uvis Kalnins‘ 2016 time of 1:56.07.

He has also represented Latvia internationally at a few different meets including the 2025 World Championships, where he swam the 100 and 200 backstroke, finishing 51st in the 100 (57.18), and 36th in the 200 (2:02.50).

Despite the new five-for-five eligibility rules taking effect, Deicmans will likely only have four years of collegiate eligibility, turning 20 at the beginning of April. The new rule states that an athlete’s clock will start at full-time college enrollment or the academic year after their 19th birthday, whichever comes first. For Deicmans, this means that his clock likely started last fall, giving him a maximum four years at Kentucky.

Deicmans’ Lifetime Best and Conversions

Kentucky is coming off an 8th place finish at the SEC Championships last season, scoring 582 points to sit about 30 points behind LSU (614) and almost 80 points ahead of Texas A&M (503.5).

Deicmans’ converted times fall just outside of NCAA qualification in his events with the 100 back cutline sitting at 44.82 last season and the 200 back cutline sitting at 1:39.53.

At the SEC Championships, however, Deicmans could be a multi-event point scorer. His 100 backstroke converted time would have been 25th in prelims, just four hundredths behind Hayden Meyers of Georgia, who finished 24th in 46.94.

In the 200 back, his converted time would have qualified for the ‘B’ final, where he would have finished 13th overall. His 200 free and 200 IM would both have been outside of scoring position.

The University of Kentucky retains its top two 100 backstrokers, Lysander Osman and Devin Naoroz from last season, who are both faster than Deicmans’ converted times. Only Naoroz was faster in the 200 backstroke, though.

He will join a small recruiting class of all international swimmers for 2026 consisting of Italian Filippo Bertoni, Estonia’s Siim Keskula, and Romania’s Darius-Matei Trenchea.

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NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — For the first time in state history, Louisiana has more registered Republican voters than Democrats, according to the Secretary of State’s office.

Political analyst Jeff Crouere says that while Louisiana has voted Republican in recent elections, the real shift was due to Republicans convincing Democrats to cross the aisle.

“Encourage more people to register as Republicans. These were like conservative Democrats that had been voting Republican but were still registered as Democrats. So, they, they were encouraged to switch parties. This trend accelerated. It’s been going on for a while,” said Crouere.

Republicans are calling it a milestone, saying it shows the state is finally as good as its people, crediting every grassroots volunteer who helped make it happen.

“That is a testament to republicans sticking to their promises. Louisiana is going to be the best state in the nation, and we are one year at a time making that happen,” said Gov. Jeff Landry.

“More Louisianans than ever are choosing the party of freedom. Opportunity, honesty, lower taxes, safer streets, and better schools. This is a historic milestone for our state,” said Chairman of the Republican Party of Louisiana Derek Babcock.

However, Democrats see it differently. They argue there hasn’t been a political shift at all, saying the change is largely the result of widespread voter purging.

“Where you kicked thousands and tens of thousands of people off the rolls without giving them an opportunity to fix it. You go through these purges, and you summarily target Democrats,” said Louisiana Congressman Troy Carter.

“The governor is doing everything that he can to showcase that his back is not against the wall, that the people of Louisiana are not turning against him and the MAGA Republicans’ agenda,” said Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Davante Lewis.

Overall, Croure says it’s a small gap, so both parties have to do better. Citing recent voter turnout.

“Democrats need to catch up as far as the money goes. The messaging, the type of candidate. But if I were Republicans, I wouldn’t be celebrating too much, because in the last election, only 17% of Republicans bothered to vote,” said Croure.

Ashley Shelton, CEO of the Power Coalition, says the organization has been working to register more young voters by partnering with local colleges and universities.

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The extreme heat caused a concrete section of Interstate 97 in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, to buckle on Friday.

Near the Brightview Drive overpass, a long section of concrete failed from shoulder to shoulder, with slabs of concrete and rebar thrust upward across all three northbound travel lanes.

“These high temperatures have totally stressed the pavements, both asphalt and concrete,” Charlie Gischlar, spokesperson for the Maryland State Highway Administration, told WTOP. “Asphalt absorbs heat, of course, and you know, heavy vehicles sitting in a right lane at a traffic signal or something can start to have that heave.”

He added that it’ll be an extended closure and recommends drivers take different routes.

“We do have crews on the scene right now, but we do have to do some work on that roadway and some of that involves having some materials put down to fill in where it was stressed and that might take some time to cure,” Gischlar said.

Initially, Maryland Department of Transportation crews allowed northbound traffic to drive through the grass on the median to get around the mound of damaged concrete. Northbound traffic is being diverted to Benfield Boulevard and Veterans Highway.

A second, smaller section of concrete damage was discovered later Friday afternoon in the southbound lanes nearby. Two left lanes were blocked.

During the record-breaking heat wave in July 2012, a section of Route 50 buckled near Bowie.

Unlike asphalt repairs, concrete repairs are more time-consuming and can require extended lane closures. Drivers who normally take I-97 from Annapolis toward Baltimore should plan on possible delays through the holiday weekend.

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