Women Swimming & Diving Takes Third at Phill Hansel Invitational

Thursday, November 16

Houston, Texas

ALL DAY

Tulane University

Phill Hansel Invitational

Photo by: Parker Waters

Women Swimming & Diving Takes Third at Phill Hansel Invitational

Nov 18, 2017 | Women's Swimming and Diving

Final Results | Final Team Scores

HOUSTON – The Green Wave women's swimming & diving team closed out a tremendous weekend at the Phill Hansel Invitational with a new school record, five top-eight finishes and multiple new additions to the school's all-time top 10 lists.

Tulane placed third in the field, scoring a combined 971.5 points over the three-day event. The Green Wave showed tremendous improvement over last year's showing at the same meet where the team placed sixth and scored 690.5 points.

"We did a really phenomenal job in the morning to set ourselves up for a strong finish tonight," Coach Katie Robinson said. "Many teams, including ours in the past, struggle to get going on the third morning in a row after such a late night of racing the night before. But the size of the fight in these women is tremendous."

FINALS
Olivia Johnson came in third place in the 1650 free, swimming to a finish of 16:38.92. That gave Tulane a 27-point start to the evening. Ellie Vincent also swam in the 1650, taking 26th in 17:54.44.

Kate McDonald came in fourth in the 200 breast, swimming an NCAA B time of 2:15.30 and scoring 26 points for Tulane. That B time was her second of the day as she broke the school record in the 200 breast prelims earlier in the day. Also in the finals, Lena Hayakawa scored 17 points with her 10th-place finish in 2:16.81, the new third-best time in program history. Johnson took 16th for 11 points in 2:21.64

In the second final of the night, Shelly Zelnick swam to a fourth-place finish in the 200 back in a time of 1:59.61. Jordan Morling was also in the A final, and she came in eighth in 2:00.80. Combined, Zelnick and Morling brought in 48 points for the Green Wave. Gabby Vieira also scored for Tulane, picking up 1 point with her 24th-place finish in 2:04.01.

Morgan Tacik was fifth in 2:01.94 in the 200 fly, scoring 25 points for the Green Wave.

The 100 free final saw Paris Zhang take ninth place and score 20 points for Tulane in 50.94 seconds. Courtney Barker was close behind in 11th place to score 16 points with a time of 51.14 seconds. In 14th, Kaitlin Simpson put up 13 points for the Green Wave with her time of 51.36 seconds.

The Green Wave closed the evening with the 400 free relay, and the quartet of Barker, Zelnick, Zhang and Simpson combined for a time of 3:22.01 and a third-place finish to get 54 points for Tulane. That mark is the new second-best time in team history.

"I'm thrilled to come away from this meet with new school records and NCAA B cuts made," Robinson said. "I'm seeing the technique and race strategies we've been working on come into play for our team."

DIVING
Katie Nicol had a strong showing in the platform diving event, her first competitive platform at the college level. Nicol finished with a total of 185.95 points, putting up 24 team points for the Green Wave. That score is now sixth-best all-time at Tulane. Anise Muir also competed in her first platform competition of the year, taking 15th place and scoring 12 team points with her total of 138.85 points.

"Our divers took a big step forward at this meet and competed very well not only on the springboards but also on the platform," Robinson said. "Things are looking up, but we still have a lot of work to do to prepare for conference next semester."

MORNING PRELIMS
McDonald had the swim of the morning, racing to an NCAA B time and a new school record in the 200 breast. McDonald touched the wall at 2:14.82, cutting nearly two full seconds off the old Tulane record. Johnson qualified for the finals with a ninth-place finish in 2:18.35, and Lena Hayakawa was 11th in 2:18.63. Ellie Vincent had a new personal best of 2:26.00 to qualify for the finals as well, and she finished 31st in the finals later in the evening.

Zelnick swam an NCAA B time in the 200 back prelims, swimming 1:58.90 to finish seventh and qualify for the A finals. Morling was right behind her in 1:59.75, also reaching the A finals in eighth place. Vieira and Claire Golba also reached the evening finals with their 17th and 27th place finishes, respectively. Golba would place 31st in the event finals.

In the 100 free, Barker had her best time ever, finishing 10th and reaching the evening finals with a time of 50.88 seconds, the new sixth-best time in team history. Zhang was right behind her in 11th in 50.96 seconds, and Kaitlin Simpson qualified 16th in 51.62 seconds.

Tacik took second in the 200 fly prelims, posting a 2:01.64 to earn herself a spot in the evening's A finals. Ramier also qualified with a 26th-place showing of 2:06.75 and would up placing 27th in the evening finals.

With the fall season now complete, the Green Wave will not compete until January 19 when they host Loyola-New Orleans for Senior Night.