Tulane University
Cougar Classic Fall Invitational
Swimming & Diving Fifth After Day One Of Cougar Classic
Nov 21, 2009 | Women's Swimming and Diving
Nov. 20, 2009
HOUSTON - Gisele Calderon, Jillian Daleiden and Kristine Gu all posted lifetime best times as the Tulane University women's swimming and diving team finished day one of the Cougar Classic Fall Invitational fifth among nine teams Friday at the University of Houston Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Natatorium.
Calderon posted a time of 5:09.23 in the preliminaries of the 500 free in the morning and finished 16th in the finals in the afternoon after touching the wall at 5:12.21. Dalieden clocked a 2:19.56 in the preliminaries of the 200 IM, and Gu had a time of 24.91 in the prelims of the 50 free. The Green Wave had 49 points following the first day of the three-day tournament, 95 shy of fourth-placed Houston and nine more than sixth-placed Air Force.
"We had a great first day," Tulane head swimming and diving coach Lena Guarriello said. "The morning swims determine who swims in the evening and we had some pretty solid swims this morning that set us up for a lot of finals swims. The good news is that we have some of our best events coming up over the next two days.
"We're really looking forward to the next two days of competition. We spotted a few different things that we can work on tomorrow and Sunday. The girls are swimming really aggressively and more competitively so far this season. It's all part of the maturing process for this very young team."
The day began swimmingly for the Green Wave as Tulane's 200 free relay team of Kylie Kastes, Gu, Kayla Alf-Huynh and Hayley Tilton finished 10th with a time of 1:37.77 - nearly five seconds faster than the previous season-best time. Allie Evans also finished 10th in the 500 free with a season-low time of 4:58.08 after clocking a 4:59.28 in the prelims.
Calderon finished 16th in the 500 free with a time of 5:12.21 in the finals after posting a 5:09.23 in the preliminaries, followed by Bolton Harris at 22nd with a 5:16.68, Emily Needham at 24th with a 5:11.39 and Kristin Ates at 26th with a time of 5:22.62.
Erin Cunningham led the Green Wave effort in the 200 IM, finishing 28th at 2:09.31 - over a second better than her prelim time of 2:10.37 - while Elizabeth Whitaker was next at 31st after touching the wall at 2:10.72. Alf-Huynh, meanwhile, paced Tulane in the 50 free with a 24.43 to finish 29th.
Tulane wrapped up the opening day of the Cougar Classic Fall Invitational with the 400 free relay where the quartet of Alf-Huynh, Whitaker, Kastes and Gu finished 14th with a time of 4:03.75. The unit clocked a 3:58.49 in the event during the preliminaries.
The nine participating teams continue the Cougar Classic on Saturday with the 200 medley relay, 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back and 800 free before wrapping up the meet on Sunday with the 1650 free, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly and 400 free relay.
Saturday's preliminaries and finals are slated to start at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., respectively, and at 10 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on Sunday.
Following the weekend in Houston, the Green Wave return to action Friday, Dec. 4, when they play a double-dual meet against the University of New Orleans and Western Kentucky. Half of the events will take place on Dec. 4 at UNO before wrapping up the double dual on Saturday at the Reily Student Recreation Center Natatorium on Dec. 5.
Team Scores After Day 1 Of The Cougar Classic Fall Invitational
Team Points1. Texas A&M 4642. SMU 2213. LSU 1834. Houston 1445. Tulane 496. Air Force 387. Incarnate Word 378. Kansas 289. UNLV 14
Players Mentioned
