Tulane University
West Florida
Swimming & Diving Rolls Past West Florida, 186-103
Nov 1, 2014 | Women's Swimming and Diving
Final Stats | Quotes | Video Interview With Coach Robinson
Video Interview With Coach Devine | Video Interview With West Florida Head Coach Andrew Hancock
Complete Meet Results In PDF Format
Arnold's 266.25 at one-meter stands as the No. 5 overall score in Tulane history and represents her second Zone cut mark of the 2014-15 season. The Green Wave (1-2), who exhibitioned the scores of the final three events of the day, posted 1-2-3 finishes in the 100 free, 200 free, 100 fly, 200 back and 400 IM to pick up their first dual-meet win of the year. West Florida, meanwhile, fell to 1-2.
"I just got done talking to the team and I told them they got an `A' for effort but also for results," Tulane head coach Katie Robinson said. "It's nice to see the effort equal good results. We had some good swims across the board, but beyond that I think they were approaching the races a lot better today. The race strategy and the stuff we had been working on in practice is really starting to show up in the meets. I'm really happy with how they're doing.
"We had at least 20 season-best times today, which was good to see. Our 400 IMers at the end of the meet did a really good job in that and their times were very close to what they went at conference last year, which is really good to see...It was good stuff all around. It was a good meet."
All told, the Green Wave had 23 season-best times - not counting the Green Wave's four marks in the 400 IM, which the team swam for the first time this year. Headlining the list of season-best performances was freshman Alex Brindisi, who had a lifetime-best time of 2:05.94 in the 200 fly to win the event - a mark which ranks No. 7 in the Tulane individual record book - to go with a season-best 57.72 to win the 100 fly.
Other season-best marks which led to individual wins were junior Mia Schachter won the 50 free and 100 free with respective times of 23.93 and 51.74, junior Rachel Schneider in both the 500 (5:09.50) and 1000 free (10:28.40), and freshman Alex Lakota in the 200 free with a 1:54.86.
Tulane also had season-best performances in the 200 medley relay where junior Elizabeth Cook, Schachter, senior Amy Needham and sophomore Jonna Frantz won with a 1:46.15 as well as the 200 free relay where freshman Kaitlin Simpson, Frantz, freshman Emma Lincoln and Schachter tallied a top-time of 1:36.36 in the final event of the day.
In addition to posting a Zone-qualifying mark in the one-meter springboard, Arnold won at the three-meter elevation with a 240.15. Fellow junior Maren Kjell, meanwhile, finished third in three-meter with 207.00 and posted the third-best score of the day in the one-meter with an exhibitioned marked of 212.55.
"I was pretty pleased overall with our performance," Tulane diving coach Chris Devine said. "Lauren did a really nice job on the one-meter with a cut score for the Zone Championships and qualifying for NCAAs. As far as the year is going, we're coming along pretty well. We're not quite halfway into the season and there are still some things to work on, of course, but things are starting to round into shape a little bit coming up on our break."
Also posting individual wins for the Green Wave were freshman Tirol Palmer in the 100 back (58.48), sophomore Joy Jason in the 100 breast (1:06.34) and 200 breast (2:23.63), and Cook in the 200 back (2:06.73). Junior Holly Grender, meanwhile, posted a meet-best mark of 4:31.60 in the exhibitioned 400 IM.
Palmer added a season-best 2:07.80 in the 200 back to finish second overall, as did senior Vanessa Loewen in the event with a 2:10.84 to come in third. Seniors Morgan Evans and Claire Schelske, meanwhile, clocked season-best marks in the 200 breast with a 2:30.51 and 2:33.32 to finish fifth and eighth, respectively.
"It's a good confidence booster for us," Robinson said of her team's performance against the Argonauts. "West Florida is doing a good job of building their program and they have a lot of very good swimmers. I think some sickness may have hit their team a little bit, so I know they're a bit stronger than they showed us today and I think they're going to have a good season as well."
The Green Wave return to action on Saturday, Nov. 8, when they travel to Nashville, Tenn., for a double-dual meet against Western Kentucky and host Vanderbilt. From there, Tulane will close out the fall portion of the schedule on Nov. 21-23 at the Pearland (Texas) Invitational. The team's next home meet is slated for Jan. 24 when the Wave play host to North Texas in the Reily Center. Prior to the start of that meet, Tulane will honor the senior class of Evans, Loewen, Needham, Schelske, Molly Jubas and Laura Turpen with a special ceremony and admission is free.
Players Mentioned
