Women's Swimming & Diving Gets School Records, NCAA B Standards on First Day in Houston

Thursday Results | Thursday Team Scores

HOUSTON – Two new school records, one event victory and three NCAA B standard times highlighted the Tulane women's swimming & diving team's first day at the Phill Hansel Invitational on Thursday.

As a team, the Green Wave sits in third place out of 10 teams with 277 points, trailing only host Houston and Rice with two days left to compete.

FINALS
The 200 free relay quartet of Courtney Barker, Shelly Zelnick, Paris Zhang and Kaitlin Simpson were the big winners of the night, beginning the evening session with a victory and a new school record. Simpson, swimming the last leg, touched the wall at 1:31.83, smashing the previous school record of 1:32.28 by nearly half a second. That performance also scored 64 points for the Green Wave.

"The Green Wave started out super strong with a new school record and winning first place against a tough field in the 200 free," Coach Katie Robinson said. "The energy in our team area was electric chanting the names of the relay swimmers as they were on there block. It was seriously so much fun."

Five different Tulane swimmers scored in the 200 IM finals with Olivia Johnson grabbing a sixth-place finish in 2:01.75 and scoring 24 points.

Zelnick, however, was faster than Johnson with a time of 2:01.55, earning her an NCAA B standard time. But because Zelnick was not swimming in the "A" finals on Thursday night, she finished ninth in the race and scored 20 points. Zelnick's time is the new second-best in school history, and Johnson's is the third-fastest ever at Tulane.

Also scoring points for the Green Wave in the 200 IM were Kate McDonald, Lena Hayakawa and Jordan Morling. McDonald came in 12th place in 2:02.64, Hayakawa was 16th in 2:07.22 and Morling was 21st in 2:05.33. Combined, those five 200 IM swimmers tallied 30 points for Tulane.

In the second event of the evening, Morgan Tacik took 10th place overall, scoring 17 more points for the Green Wave. Her time of 4:51.79 – the new fourth-best overall time in program history – was actually the seventh-fastest of the evening, but she was not swimming in the 'A' final so she was ineligible for a score better than ninth.

Barker had the highest individual finish for Tulane all night, scoring 25 points for the Green Wave in the 50 free with a time of 23.31 seconds. Zhang scored 13 points with her 14th-place finish in a time of 23.64, and Simpson added four more points with her 21st-place showing of 23.78.

Another school record and NCAA B time closed the night as Zhang, McDonald, Gabby Vieira and Zelnick took second overall in the 400 medley relay to score 56 points. Zhang's leadoff 100 back came in at 54.01 seconds, setting the new Tulane record and also earning her an NCAA B time. The quartet finished the race in 3:41.19, the new third-best mark in program history.

"We stayed strong through the individual events adding a couple more personal records in the 200 IM to the day," Robinson said. "It was good to have Zelnick get the NCAA B cut in the 200 IM, too. We finished with a very competitive 400 medley relay time that will place well within our conference this time of year. Paris' leadoff time was a new school record and another NCAA B cut to add to the night. Our Green Wave women are in good spirits and ready to carry on again tomorrow."

MORNING PRELIMS
In the morning session's 500 free prelims, Tacik came in 11th place with a time of 4:54.61 while Ellie Vincent was 32nd in 5:04.46. Vincent would later finish 31st in the evening's final in 5:05.11. Tacik's prelim time is now the 10th-best overall time in Tulane history.

Next in the 200 IM, Tulane had seven swimmers in the top 40 of the 86-swimmer field who qualified for the evening finals. Johnson set the then-third-fastest time in school history when she placed seventh in the prelims in 2:02.75. Zelnick, the school record holder, was close behind her in 2:02.87 for ninth.

McDonald placed 10th in the qualifier in 2:03.10, Lena Hayakawa was 15th in 2:03.89, Paris Zhang was 20th in 2:04.68 and Jordan Morling was 21st in 2:05.23. Emily Ramier took 38th in 2:07.87 to qualify for the finals, and Alex Lakota took the final qualifying spot with a 40th-place showing in 2:08.03. Both would improve on their placement in the finals later in the evening with Ramier taking 36th and Lakota coming in 39th.

In the last prelim of the morning, Barker had the best performance of any Green Wave swimmer when she placed second overall in 23.18 seconds. That time was just short of the NCAA "B" time (22.99) but was still the fourth-best time in Tulane history and easily put her in the event final. Also making the cut for the finals were Zhang (12th, 23.64), Kaitlin Simpson (24th, 23.78), Vieira (32nd, 24.08) and Lilly Morgan (37th, 24.18). In the finals, Vieira would take 31st and Morgan was 36th, both improving on their placing from the prelims.

Of those preliminary efforts, six resulted in personal bests for the swimmer. Besides Johnson and Barker's times, Simpson's 23.78 in the 50 free was a best for the senior, McDonald's 2:03.10 in the 200 IM was a best by nearly two seconds, Zhang's 200 IM time of 2:04.68 was a best for the junior and Hayakawa's 200 IM time was two seconds better than her previous best.

DIVING
Early in the afternoon, Green Wave divers Anise Muir /and Katie Nicol took part in the 1-meter springboard prelims. Both advanced to the finals with Muir's 14th-place score of 203.15. Nicol's 188.90 put her in the 16th and final qualifying spot of the afternoon.

In the finals later in the afternoon, Muir would finish 14th overall with a score of 211.20, upping her prelim total by more than eight points. That 211.20 is now the 12th-best score in Tulane history. Nicol, too, improved on her prelim score with a 192.85 for 16th place.

Tulane continues its participation in the Phill Hansel Invitational on Friday with eight more events: the 3-meter springboard, the 200 medley relay, the 400 IM, the 100 fly, the 200 free, the 100 breast, the 100 back and the 800 free relay.

Women's Swimming & Diving Gets School Records, NCAA B Standards on First Day in Houston

Players Mentioned

Lena Hayakawa

Alex Lakota

Lilly Morgan

Anise Muir

Emily Ramier

Kaitlin Simpson

Shelly Zelnick

Paris Zhang

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