Tulane Opens Phill Hansell Invitational in Fourth Place

NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane University women's swimming and diving team opened competition on Thursday at the 2019 Phill Hansell Invitational and currently sit in fourth-place with 205 points.

The three-day event is beginning held at the University of Houston's Campus Recreation & Wellness Center Natatorium.

"All around, we had a good first day," head coach Leah Stancil said. "A lot of the training we had done over the past three weeks really served as a race rehearsal and you can tell that really worked out. I think it really helped our team fine tune some things."

Freshman Lilly Byrne highlighted day one action, as she took runner up honors in the 500-yard freestyle, as she closed in a time of 4:47.98. Byrne's finishing time smashed her personal-best mark of 4:53.99 and nearly set the school record, which teammate Olivia Johnson set last season at the American Athletic Conference Championship.

Sophomore Noa Heron posted the top time in the 'B' Final race of the 500-yard freestyle (4:48.22), which earned her a spot in the Toyota U.S. Open in Atlanta.

Sophomore Anne Marie Kenny was the top Tulane diver in the one-meter event, as she placed fifth in the consolation standings (17th overall) with a score of 227.70.

"We had some inconsistent dives during our preliminaries, but I was happy with the way we closed things out today," Tulane diving coach John Sirmon said. "We're really looking forward to tomorrow."

LAGNIAPPE
The Green Wave opened the day by taking eighth in the 200-yard freestyle relay finishing in a time of 1:34.54…Junior Kate McDonald took eighth in the 200-yard IM (2:03.75)… Junior Courtney Barker placed 15th in the 50-yard freestyle (23.60).

UP NEXT
Tulane returns to action tomorrow morning with preliminary competition, beginning at 10 a.m. with the 400-yard IM.

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

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Tulane Opens Phill Hansell Invitational in Fourth Place

Players Mentioned

Courtney Barker

Lilly Byrne

Noa Heron

Olivia Johnson

Anne Marie Kenny

Kate McDonald

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