Tulane Swimming and Diving Welcomes SMU on Saturday

NEW ORLEANS – The Tulane University swimming and diving team returns to the water on Saturday, as it welcomes SMU to the Reily Student Recreation Center Natatorium for its final test before the American Athletic Conference Championships.

Prior to the meet, Tulane will honor seniors Claire Golba, Valentina Gomez, Olivia Johnson, Jordan Morling and Morgan Tacik. Each of Tulane's seniors will be honored in a ceremony that will begin prior to the meet at 1:30 p.m.

"I'm very proud of each of these individuals that we will be recognizing prior to the meet," head coach Leah Stancil said. "Each of these young ladies have embraced change and they have adjusted accordingly. We will certainly miss all of them and they are all a very big part of our program."

The three meter diving event will begin the meet at 1:50 p.m. with the racing events to follow, beginning at 2 p.m. Fans can watch the meet live by clicking here.

"This is going to be a really good meet for our team and I really hoping to build some confidence among our team as we prepare for conference," Stancil said. "I'm really looking forward to seeing how our team handles the pressure of competition and competing at home."

Tulane will look to defeat SMU for the third straight season. Last year the Green Wave tallied a 154-145 victory over the Mustangs and a posted a 172-127 during the 2017-18 campaign.

The Green Wave enters the meet following a strong close to their winter training trip in Florida where they posted a pair of victories against West Florida (181-119) and Hendrix College (245-40). Johnson and Morlingled the way for the Green Wave, as both won a pair of races.

Johnson opened the individual events by winning the 1,650-yard free style, finishing in a time of 16:53.30. Johnson would later go on to claim the 200-yard breaststroke, clocking a time of 2:20.62.

Morling's winning performances would come in the 200-yard backstroke (2:03.80) and 200-yard IM (2:07.35), respectively.

On the diving side, Tulane will look to build off some strong momentum from its last competition in West Florida where sophomore Anne Marie Kennytallied a personal best in the one meter event, posting a performance of 240.90 to place third. In the three meter event, Kenny took second posting a score of 234.20.

"I'm feeling pretty good on where we stand right now as a team," Tulane diving coach John Sirmon said. "We've had a couple of good practices since our last meet. We've been getting a lot of good repetitions and it's been pretty successful, so we are looking pretty good coming into this week's meet."

The Green Wave enter their final regular season test in the hopes of improving upon their performances this season. Listed below is a look at where the Green Wave stand among the AAC leaders.

American Athletic Conference Top 10 Individual Performances
100 Freestyle
9. Courtney Barker (50.88, Phill Hansel Invitational)

500 Freestyle
4. Lilly Byrne (4:47.98, Phill Hansel Invitational)
6. Noa Heron (4:48.22, Phill Hansel Invitational)

1000 Freestyle
3. Noa Heron (10:08.09, Phill Hansel Invitational)
4. Lilly Byrne (10:08.24, Dual-A-Palooza)
8. Olivia Johnson (10:13.57, vs. LSU)

1650 Freestyle
2. Lilly Bryne (16:40.59, Phill Hansel Invitational)
3. Noa Heron ( 16:43.79, Phill Hansel Invitational)
7. Olivia Johnson (16:53.30, Phill Hansel Invitational)

50 Backstroke
5. Ashley Carollo (25.97, Phill Hansel Invitational)

200 Backstroke
5. Jordan Morling (1:58.73, Phill Hansel Invitational)

50 Breaststroke
5. Jeni Griffin (30.85, Phill Hansel Invitational)
9. Olivia Johnson (31.93, Phill Hansel Invitational)

100 Breaststroke
6. Kate McDonald (1:02.67, Phill Hansel Invitational)

200 Breaststroke
4. Kate McDonald (2:14.23, Phill Hansel Invitational)
9. Olivia Johnson (2:18.08, Dual-A-Palooza)

50 Butterfly
2. Mya Drost-Parra (25.90, Phill Hansel Invitational)

100 Butterfly
8. Mya Drost-Parra (55.48, Phill Hansel Invitational)

200 Butterfly
10. Olivia Johnson (2:02.43, Phill Hansel Invitational)

200 IM
8. Kate McDonald (2:02.06, Phill Hansel Invitational)

400 IM
1. Olivia Johnson (4:12.72, Phill Hansel Invitational)
4. Kate McDonald (4:21.67, Phill Hansel Invitational)
5. Jordan Morling (4:21.90, Phill Hansel Invitational)
9. Kathleen Amar (4:24.41, Phill Hansel Invitational)

LIVE RESULTS
Live results of the Tulane vs. SMU meet will be available via Meet Mobile. To download the official Meet Mobile app, click here.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
3M Diving - 1:50 PM
200 Medley Relay
1000 Yard Freestyle
200 Yard Freestyle
100 Yard Backstroke
100 Yard Breaststroke
200 Yard Butterfly
50 Yard Freestyle
1M Diving
100 Yard Freestyle
200 Yard Backstroke
200 Yard Breaststroke
500 Yard Freestyle
100 Yard Butterfly

-15 minute break for Special Olympic races –

200 Yard Individual Medley
200 Yard Freestyle Relay
Meet Ends

LAGNIAPPE
The Green Wave also will welcome Special Olympic athletes, who will compete at the Reily Center during the second break of competition. The Tulane swimming and diving team has worked with local Special Olympic athletes throughout the season, continuing a recent team tradition over the past several years.

Download the official mobile app of Tulane Athletics. Now, you can stay in touch with the Green Wave anytime and anywhere on your mobile device.

Be sure to follow the program on Facebook and Twitter (@GreenWaveSwim) and on Instagram (@TulaneSwimDive). Fans can also follow Tulane Athletics on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

WE ARE NOLA BUILT
Tulane University is located in the city of New Orleans. It is a city built on tradition and resiliency. The lessons Green Wave student-athletes have learned through their connection with this university and city have BUILT doctors, lawyers, business leaders, conference champions, all-conference players, All-Americans, professional athletes and NCAA tournament teams. The city of New Orleans has shaped us into who we are today. We are One City. We are Tulane. We are NOLA BUILT. Check out our story at NolaBuilt.com.

Tulane Swimming and Diving Welcomes SMU on Saturday

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Players Mentioned

Courtney Barker

Lilly Byrne

Ashley Carollo

Mya Drost-Parra

Claire Golba

Valentina Gomez

Jeni Griffin

Noa Heron

Olivia Johnson

Anne Marie Kenny

Kate McDonald

Jordan Morling

Morgan Tacik

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