Alf-Huynh Named All-American By CollegeSwimming.com
Jun 1, 2011 | Women's Swimming and Diving
June 1, 2011
NEW ORLEANS - While the Tulane University swimming and diving team wrapped up its 2010-11 season over three months ago, postseason honors continue to dribble in as sophomore Kayla Alf-Huynh was named honorable-mention Mid-Major All-American by CollegeSwimming.com.
The honor is the first of Alf-Huynh's career and the first by a Green Wave student-athlete since the program was restarted the first time around back for the 2003-04 season. The last time a female swimmer at Tulane claimed All-America recognition was in 1984 when Berit Amlie earned the honor in the 100- and 200-yard butterfly.
"This is a tremendous honor for Tulane University, a milestone achievement for the swimming and diving program, and a well-deserved award for Kayla," Tulane head swimming and diving coach Lena Guarriello said. "She has worked extremely hard on her conditioning and her technique, and the honors she has earned this year speak for themselves.
"We are all extremely excited for Kayla and it was nice to see her put in the time and effort to reach this plateau so far in her college career. She still has two years of eligibility and is already a leader on a very young team. If she continues to work hard and improve at this pace, her final two seasons here should be something to see."
A native of Portland, Ore., Alf-Huynh participated in all 10 meets during the 2010-11 season en route to claiming second-team All-Conference USA honors in the 50 free and 100 back while earning third-team All C-USA recognition in the 100 free.
Her times of 22.97 in the 50 free and 54.70 in the 100 back during the 2011 C-USA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships in Houston were NCAA Provisional B Cuts. In addition, Alf-Huynh swam leadoff for the 200 medley relay team, which set a school record 3:48.92 at the C-USA Championship meet.
Alf-Huynh was named C-USA Swimmer of the Week on Feb. 10, 2011, after posting a pair of individual wins and spearheading a relay victory in Tulane's come-from-behind win over Vanderbilt in the regular-season finale. In that dual-meet, she won the 100 back with a time of 58.82 while clocking a 24.53 to emerge victorious in the 50 free. Her biggest impact of the competition, however, came in the final event of the day - the 400 free relay.
Tulane trailed 127-118 heading into the relay and needed a 1-2 finish to earn the team victory. Alf-Huynh swam leadoff for the Wave's "A" unit - posting a 53.34 split - to set the tempo for the squad's victorious run. She joined Grace Tarka, Allie Evans and Hagar Elgendy in the relay to record a cumulative time of 3:32.89. Alf-Huynh also swam leadoff in the 400 meley relay as Tulane finished second in the event at 3:57.37.
Alf-Huynh also posted top times of 50.26 in the 100 free, 2:10.21 in the 200 IM while helping Tulane's relay team's tally high-water marks of 1:33.94 in the 200 free relay, 3:25.64 in the 40 0free relay, 7:29.39 in the 800 free relay, 12:43.36 in the 200 medley relay and 3:48.92 in the 400 medley relay.
Players Mentioned
