Tulane Swimming and Diving Prepares for the Phill Hansel Invitational

NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane University swimming and diving team returns to action on Thursday, as it heads to the University of Houston for the annual Phill Hansel Invitational. The three-day event will be held at the Campus Recreation & Wellness Center Natatorium.

The Green Wave haven't hit the water in a competitive meet since Oct. 19.The meet will give Tulane another chance to take down American Athletic Conference rival and meet host Houston after it fell to the two-time defending league champions back on Oct 3.

"I'm really excited for our team to compete this week," head coach Leah Stancil said. "Our team has had three weeks of training and they have all been working really hard. This week's meet will give us a good assessment on where we are right now as a team as we prepare for the conference meet."

Tulane has competed in the Phill Hansel Invitational for the past four years, with the level of competition increasing steadily.

Tulane will compete against 12 other teams including: Rice, Air Force, Colorado State, Florida Gulf Coast, Houston, Nebraska Omaha, Nevada, New Mexico, Northern Colorado, North Texas, UC Davis and Washington State.

"This meet has a lot of really good teams, so we will face a lot of great competition, which will be helpful for our team," Stancil said.

The Green Wave finished in second-place out of eight in 2015. Two years later in 2017, The Green Wave finished third among 10 teams while earning five top-eight finishes and setting a new school record. In 2018, Tulane placed fifth out of 12 teams.

Junior Kate McDonald has led the way for the Green Wave over the early months of the season, as she has collected victories in nine races.

Tulane also has seen strong performances from freshman Lilly Byrne. In her last meet against Rice back on Oct. 19, Byrne collected a victory in the 200-yard freestyle finishing in a time of 1:50.94.

In the diving events, sophomore Anne Marie Kenny and freshman Gabby Hebert are coming off strong performances against Rice, as they placed first and second, respectively.

"We are in a great spot right now," Tulane diving coach John Sirmon said. "We are putting in some new dives this week and I'm looking forward to see how we will execute these dives. The biggest goal us is to make sure our new dives are ready for us to use at the conference meet."

Live results can be accessed by clicking HERE or via the Meet Mobile App.

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START TIMES:
Thursday – November 21, 2019
Prelims: 10:00 a.m.
Finals:     6:00 p.m.

Friday – November 22, 2019
Prelims: 10:00 a.m.
Finals:     6:00 p.m.

Saturday – November 23, 2019
Prelims: 10:00 a.m.
Finals:     3:00 p.m. (Negotiable for teams traveling Saturday evening)

Tulane Swimming and Diving Prepares for the Phill Hansel Invitational

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Players Mentioned

Lilly Byrne

Gabby Hebert

Anne Marie Kenny

Kate McDonald

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