Tulane University
LSU
Swimming & Diving Enjoys Coming-Out Party At LSU
Oct 30, 2009 | Women's Swimming and Diving
Oct. 30, 2009
BATON ROUGE, La. - Freshmen Allie Evans and Lauren Pfohl posted individual wins in the 500 free and 200 back, respectively, and the quartet of Pfohl, Erin Cunningham, Grace Tarka and Kylie Kastes emerged victorious in the 400 medley relay as the Tulane University women's swimming and diving team enjoyed a break-out performance at LSU Friday afternoon at the LSU Natatorium.
LSU's overall edge in experience proved to be the difference as the Tigers emerged with a 175-117 win, but the story of the day was the Green Wave's overall team effort which provided the trio of wins and handful of season-best times. With the loss, Tulane fell to 0-3 in dual-meet action. LSU, meanwhile, improved to 1-2.
"The overall performance of our team today was great from start to finish - starting off with a big win in the 400 medley relay and finishing with a season-best in the 400 free relay," Tulane head swimming and diving coach Lena Guarriello said. "The girls swam really strong today. They put a lot of the things we've been working on in practice together, really cleaned up their races and raced well against a fast SEC team. I'm really pleased with today's performances all the way around.
"We kind of moved some of the girls around. A lot of the girls on the team have three or four or even five solid events. They kind of get pigeon holed into two or three because of the needs of the team. We were able to move some of them around and shift them into some different events today and they had some great performances. One of the reasons we do that is to see where we're going to score best at the conference championship. Right now, I'm kind of confused because they're swimming well in all of their events right now."
The Green Wave opened the meet in fine fashion, winning the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:55.85. Evans won the 500 free with a mark of 4:58.48 while Pfohl clocked a 2:03.73 in the 200 back - nearly five seconds faster Cunningham, who finished second.
In addition to the three wins, Tulane also posted second-place finishes n the 1000 free, 200 fly, 100 free, 200 back, 100 fly, 200 IM and 400 free relay.
Evans led the Green Wave effort in the 1000 free with a season-best time of 10:22.43 while Emily Needham was third at 10:57.80 and Kristin Ates finished fourth with a mark of 11:07.18. Needham, Gisele Calderon and Kastes finished 2-3-4 in the 200 fly with respective times of 2:06.32, 2:07.14 and 2:07.43.
Evans also finished second in the 100 free at 54.34, followed by third-placed Kristine Gu at 54.73 and fifth-placed Hayley Tilton with a 56.39. Cunningham followed Pfohl in the 200 back at 2:08.71 and Rebekah Harris was sixth in the event with a time of 2:11.37.
Tulane finished second through fifth in the 100 fly as Tarka led the way with a 57.69. Kastes was third with a time of 58.21, followed by Calderon at 59.22 and Alf-Huynh at 1:00.24. Tarka and Cunningham, meanwhile, finished 2-3 in the 200 IM with times of 2:09.12 and 2:10.29, respectively.
The Green Wave ended the meet on a high note as the Evans, Pfohl, Elizabeth Whitaker and Kastes finished second in the 400 free relay with 3:35.44 on the clock while Alf-Huynh, Gu, Bolton Harris and Calderon were next with a time of 3:41.84.
"Allie Evans was great for us today in the distance events," Guarriello said. "She was second in the 1,000 with a season-best time and first in the 500 only two seconds off her personal best. She had two really great swims and also contributed in the 400 free relay. She led off in a season-best time as well.
"Lauren Pfohl is an old faithful for us. She had two personal bests today in the 100 back and 200 back, winning the 200 back. She also was a season-best time in the 400 free relay. And our flyers were great today."
Whitaker led Tulane in the 200 free, finishing fourth with a mark of 1:56.18while Cunningham and Jillian Daleiden were 3-4 in the 100 breast with respective times of 1:08.44 and 1:12.58. Alf-Huynh was third in the 50 free with a 25.06 and Whitaker paced the squad in the 200 breast with a 2:34.24 to finish third.
Sarah McGoldrick and Michelle Fryar finished third and fourth in the one-meter springboard with scores of 179.02 and 134.76, respectively, and McGoldrick paced the Green Wave with a 179.92 in the three-meter springboard to finish third.
"We've been working really, really hard and we've had three weeks now to focus on our training, work on everything we need to work on and improve in the areas the coaches thought necessary," Pfohl said. "I feel that as a team, we were really ready to race hard today. Everyone was so excited to come up here and swim our first big meet against a big school. It was very exciting.
"After our last two meets, I don't think we necessarily felt down but a little worried. I think coming here, swimming fast and having those times was definitely what we needed to get us through our next three weeks of training for our next meet. Hopefully, we'll swim really fast in Houston."
The Green Wave return to action on Friday, Nov. 20, when they open play in Cougar Classic Fall Invitational in Houston at the CRWC Natatorium. The three-day event runs through Sunday, Nov. 22.
Players Mentioned
