Tulane Swims to Second-Place Finish at Phill Hansel Invitational

Nov 21, 2015 | Women's Swimming and Diving

Nov. 21, 2015

Houston, Texas // Atlanta, Ga. - - Tulane's swimming and dive teams continued to impress on the final day of this weekend's competitions, once again wrapping up their efforts in record-breaking fashion.

Day three of the Phill Hansel Invitational in Houston proved fruitful for the Green Wave swimmers, who added a handful school records and another NCAA B-Cut time to their achievements. On the weekend, Tulane notched five school records – four of which were set by freshmen, – two NCAA B-Cut times, twenty top-10 finishes and over thirty lifetime bests.

As a result, the Green Wave squad was able to cling to second place to finish ahead of eight other teams in attendance with a score of 879. Rice emerged victorious with 1,121.5 points, while Tulane was followed by UC Davis (861), Houston (778), Colorado State University (707.5), Oregon State University (703), North Texas (562.5), New Mexico State (556.5), University of Idaho (544) and Northern Colorado (238).

"Our women fought so hard today and were able to hold on to our second-place standing," head coach Katie Robinson said. "It's really great to see our women place so high among quite a few teams from all over the United States. I'm very proud of their mental toughness today after yesterday having some frustration with times not being exactly where they wanted them. This team is absolutely on the rise and I cannot wait for conference competition in February."

The morning started out with the 200 back prelims, where freshman Shelly Zelnick became the first of the sixteen Tulane swimmers to qualify for today's finals competition. Freshman Lena Hayakawa set the third school record of the weekend with her time of 2:17.92 in the 200 breast prelims, where her seventh-place effort also qualified her for the A-Final. Senior Mia Schachter took first in the 100 free prelim, while junior Ellie Sills flew through another race for a second-place finish in the prelim for the 200 fly.

In the 1650 free, freshman Natalie Clausen also scratched her name in the Tulane record book with her No. 4 finish on a time of 16:40.92, over ten seconds faster than the previous record-holding time.

The Tulane swimmers carried their momentum into the finals competition, which began with Zelnick's fifth-place effort in the 200 back (1:59.93). In the 100 free, Schachter notched her second NCAA B-Cut time and first-place finish of the weekend with a time of 49.98, just half a second shy of a school record and her career-high.

Hayakawa finished seventh in the 200 breast (2:18.52), while Sills took fourth in the 200 fly final with a time of 2:01.77, almost a second faster than her prelims performance. Tulane finished out the weekend with a third-place finish in the 400 free relay on a time of 3:23.92, once again beating last year's American Conference Championships performance.

In Atlanta, diving rounded out the weekend at the Georgia Tech Invitational with the platform dive. Senior Lauren Arnold had a solid showing, taking the No. 17 spot in the event with a 207.20, the third-highest in school history. Senior Maren Kjell notched a No. 27 finish (175.25). Tulane swimming & diving wraps up the fall season on Dec. 5, traveling to Tuscaloosa for a dual meet at the University of Alabama.

Top 10 Finishes in the Phill Hansel Invitational

200 Free Relay

2. Tulane ‘A' – 1:33.40 (Palmer, Zhang, Hayakawa, Schachter)

500 Free

9. Natalie Clausen – 4:53.83

200 IM

5. Michele Zelnick – 2:04.44

7. Holly Grender – 2:05.05

50 Free

1. Mia Schachter – 22.93 D1B

10. Paris Zhang – 23.48*

400 Medley Relay