Tulane University
AAC Championship
Back-to-Back Gold Medals for McDonald as Swimming & Diving Closes AAC Championship
Feb 27, 2021 | Women's Swimming and Diving
Day Three Results
Complete AAC Championship Results
DALLAS — Three swimming and diving student-athletes made trips to the podium on the final day of the American Athletic Conference Championship on Saturday, as Tulane finished fourth with 617 points after three days of competition in the Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center and Barr-McMillion Natatorium.
"It has been a long journey to get to this day this season," head coach Leah Stancil said. "I am proud of the team's perseverance and resilience through a very challenging year. From our upperclassmen, Kate [McDonald] was able to secure another gold and Noa [Heron] received a bronze in the 1650 with a best time. Our freshman also made a mark today, achieving more best times from Danielle [Titus], Gianna [Spremullo], Christiana [Williams], Jennifer [Gougelmann] and Autumn [Keats-O'Connor] in the pool and Paige [McKenzie] improving her scores in platform. Our team still has a lot of room for growth but our future is bright."
Earning her second gold medal in as many days to highlight Saturday's performance was senior Kate McDonald, who finished first in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:12.50.
Also earning a second medal this weekend was freshman Danielle Titus, who notched a time of 1:59.25 in the 200-yard backstroke. Earlier in the day in the 200-back prelims, Titus recorded a career-best time of 1:59.08, taking the fifth-best spot in the Tulane record books.
Junior Noa Heron earned a bronze medal in the 1650-yard freestyle, recording a career-best time of 16:36.75. The third-place finish sent Heron to the AAC Championship podium for the first time in her Tulane career.Â
Also earning a top-five finish on the final day of the conference championship was sophomore Lilly Byrne, who finished fourth in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 16:36.81.
Freshman Christiana Williams was just short of earning a second medal this weekend after reaching a fourth-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:16.07. Williams' time of 2:16.07 in the prelims marks a career-best for the first-year Green Wave.
Freshman Paige McKenzie led the way for the divers on Saturday, earning a final score of 219.45 from the platform to finish seventh overall.Â
Eleven members of Tulane's swimming and diving team reached career-best times and marks in the third and final day of AAC action.
Houston won the AAC Championship for the fifth straight year, totaling 1009 points. SMU finished in second with 753.5 points and Cincinnati finished third with 732.5.
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Players Mentioned
