Tulane University
Pearland Invitational
Swim Team Posts Second-Place Finish At Pearland Invitational
Nov 24, 2014 | Women's Swimming and Diving
Complete Results Of The Pearland Invitational In PDF Format 
PEARLAND, Texas - In the realm of college athletics, it's one thing to achieve success but it's another to strive for more. That was the attitude of the Tulane University swim team throughout the weekend as the Green Wave posted a second-place finish at the Pearland Invitational.
Of the 17 individual swims for the Green Wave on Sunday at the Pearland Invitational, six were lifetime bests and another 10 were season-best performance. No performance was more impressive, however, that of junior Mia Schachter. After falling one one-hundredth of a second from her career best performance during the 100 freestyle, where she finished second, the native of Arroyo Grande, Calif., one-upped herself in the final event of the three-day invite with a school-record 49.85 with a leadoff split in the 400 free relay.
"Hands down, this was the best meet I've coached and I couldn't be more proud of the way our team performed each day," Tulane head coach Katie Robinson said. "We had another strong day to finish out the three-day meet, with another school record to add to the books.
"One thing that truly impressed me as a coach was the ability of our women to manage their energy through the entire meet, day in and day out. I saw them gain energy from each other and become excited each time someone from our team swam fast. This is such a supportive team and they are learning how to be competitive with each other in a fun way to help each other succeed together. It is such a wonderful characteristic of our team."
The Green Wave finished the event with 837.5 points, second only to the 1,254 amassed by Rice. North Texas was third with a score of 639.5, followed by host Houston at 438.
The 100 freestyle mark was the sixth school record set or tied by the Green Wave during the Pearland Invitational and the third of the weekend by Schachter, who equaled her own record in the 50 free with a 22.90 on Friday and the 100 breast with a 1:00.24 on Friday.
Schachter's record-setting leadoff split surpassed the 100 free former mark of 50.01 by Linda McEachrane on Feb. 26, 2005, at the Conference USA Championship. The split also helped spearhead the Green Wave A team 400 relay unit of Schachter and the freshman trio of Kaitlin Simpson, Alex Lakota and Emma Simpson to a second-place showing at 3:23.93 - the second-fastest time in school history.
"Mia had two very good swims in her 100 free and came up 0.02 shy of the record and her milestone of breaking the 50-second mark," Robinson said. "She came up to me after her individual event at night and said to put her as the leadoff on the relay because she was going to get the 49. It was a moment where you could see her ferocity and determination bright as day. I love moments like that. With her leading the way and three freshmen to follow, that relay was an extremely thrilling race to watch."
Also posting career-best performances were junior Roni Meyer in the 1650 free, junior Holly Grender and freshman Tirol Palmer in the 200 back, and Lincoln, Lakota and Simpson in the 100 free.
Meyer led Tulane in the mile with a 17:14.22 - a time that ranks No. 5 in the Tulane record book individual and No. 9 overall - to finish fourth overall while junior Rachel Schneider (17:14.44) and sophomore Ali Talwar (17:29.44) both posted season-best marks in the event.
Grender, who set Tulane records in both the 200 and 400 IMs earlier in the weekend, finished second in the 200 back at 2:01.04. Her time ranks second in the Green Wave annals while Palmer clocked a 2:03.58 to finish seventh and post the No. 9 individual time in Tulane history.
Schachter led the Wave in the 100 free with a 50.03 to finish second among the Pearland field, followed on the team by a fourth-place showing by Lincoln (51.37), a 14th-place finish by Lakota (51.94) and a 15th-place performance by Simpson (52.42). Simpson's 51.89 during the 100 free preliminaries ranks ninth in Tulane individual history while Lincoln and Lakota's finals marks stand fifth and 10th, respectively.
Sophomore Joy Jason paced the squad in the 200 free with a 2:22.31 to finish sixth, and her 2:21.34 in the preliminaries ranks as the No. 6 individual time in the Green Wave record book. Fellow sophomore Ellie Sills, meanwhile, led Tulane in the 200 fly with a 2:04.65 to finish fifth and her prelim mark of 2:03.80 sits ninth individually on the all-time Tulane listing.
"We absolutely couldn't do this without the leadership from our seniors," Robinson added. "They were amazing team players, giving pump-up talks and creating the fun environment. We've always said happy swimmers are fast swimmers. These seniors lift our team up and I am so grateful for each of them."
While the Pearland Invitational marks the end of the fall portion of the 2014-15 season, the Green Wave will enjoy a break before opening the spring slate on Saturday, Jan. 10, when they travel to Coral Gables, Fla., to take on Rutgers and host Miami. Tulane'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 contest, Tulane will honor the senior class of Morgan Evans, Molly Jubas, Vanessa Loewen, Amy Needham, Claire Schelske, and Laura Turpen with a special ceremony and admission is free.
Players Mentioned
