Two School Records Fall, 200 Medley Relay Medals in AAC Championship First Day

Wednesday, February 14

Dallas, Texas

ALL DAY

Tulane University

Day 1

Photo by: Parker Waters

Two School Records Fall, 200 Medley Relay Medals in AAC Championship First Day

Feb 14, 2018 | Women's Swimming and Diving

Day 1 Results | Live Video Streaming | Live Results

DALLAS – Tulane had two new school records, a bronze medal, a second-fastest time in team history and a victory in the diving consolation finals on the opening night of the American Athletic Conference Championship at SMU on Wednesday.

Tulane saved its best showing of the night for last, as the team of Paris Zhang, Kate McDonald, Kaitlin Simpson and Courtney Barker set a school record in the 200 medley relay.

The group finished with a time of 1:39.94 for a bronze medal, beating out the old school record of 1:40.19 at the same AAC Championship in 2016. Thursday's team was the first Tulane relay team to earn a medal at the AAC Championship since that previous school-record-holding 200 medley relay team in 2016. The third-place finish scored 32 points for Tulane.

"This was a very strong start for the Wave," Coach Katie Robinson said. "The medley relay swam with a ton of confidence and reaped the reward of a new school record. It's a great start to the meet rewriting the record book."

Tulane placed fifth in the 800 free relay to begin the night, had new school record as part of that relay and nearly broke another with its final mark.

Shelly Zelnick started the race off with a speedy first 200 meters, touching the wall second with a time of 1:47.04 giving Morgan Tacik her chance in the pool just .08 behind first-place Houston. Zelnick's leadoff leg broke the school record in the 200 free by 0.99 seconds, besting Emma Lincoln's time of 1:48.03 from the AAC Championship meet in 2016. Zelnick's time was also a personal best in the 200 free by 1.77 seconds.

After Zelnick completed her 200 meters, the Cougars pulled away over the next three legs and won the race. Still, Tulane's final fifth-place time of 7:18.75 – set by the quartet of Zelnick, Tacik, Lena Hayakawa and Olivia Johnson – was the new second-fastest time in school history. That placement scored 28 points for the team.

"Shelly lit it up with a new school record in the 200 free as the first leg of the relay, and the rest of that relay swam strong in a fast heat," Robinson said.

The Green Wave divers also began their time in Dallas on Wednesday morning. Katie Nicol finished in 17th place with a score of 191.50 on the 3-meter springboard, and Anise Muir reached the consolation finals with a mark of 220.10 in the prelims.

In the consolation finals, Muir had a huge improvement. Her score of 220.10 was good for 15th place in the prelims, but her consolation dives scored a 238.30, winning that consolation final and placing her ninth overall at the end of the day. Muir jumped 18.20 points and six places from her prelim dives, and that 238.30 is the new 13th-best 3-meter diving score in Tulane history.

Muir earned 9 points for Tulane with that ninth-place showing.

"Anise really put together a great list on the 3-meter to start us off today," Robinson said. "I'm proud of how far she's come this year."

As a team, the Green Wave sit in sixth place through one night of the four-night meet with 69 points.

Action continues at SMU for Day 2 of the championship on Thursday. Swimming prelims begin at 10 a.m., diving prelims will be held in the 1-meter at 12:30 p.m., and swimming finals are at 6 p.m.