It was a day that saw the Green Wave take the pool at less than 100 percent perfect health and it showed as the Tulane University women’s swimming and diving team dropped a 181-119 dual-meet to Conference USA newcomer North Texas on Saturday at the Pohl Recreation Center Natatorium.
Despite having several members participate while battling illness and others back in New Orleans while they recovered, Tulane still posted four top individual finishes as the freshman trio of Jonna Frantz, Joy Jason and Ellie Sills won the 50 free, 100 breast and 200 fly, respectively, while sophomore Rachel Schneider came in first in the 1000 free. Despite the four top times, Tulane fell to 2-9 in dual meets during the 2013-14 season.
“Today, we swam and dove to the best of our ability at this time,” first-year head coach Katie Robinson said. “It’s a bit of a heartbreak for the situation (due to illnesses), and now we just need to get back to 100 percent health. On the other hand, many swimmers were great today and got their hand on the wall quickly. We have a lot to learn from this meet and look forward to our next one.”
Frantz won the 50 free with a time of 25.76, Jason claimed the 100 breast with a mark of 1:00.19 and Sills emerged victorious in the 200 fly after touching the wall at 2:13.30. Schneider, meanwhile, claimed the 1000 free win with a time of 10:55.79.
In addition to the four individual wins, Tulane also posted 10 second-place finishes and seven marks that came in third. Junior Amy Needham finished second to Sills in the 200 fly with a 2:20.69 and the Green Wave posted 2-3 finishes in the 100 back, 200 back, 100 fly, 400 IM and 400 free relay.
Sophomore Elizabeth Cook led the Green Wave effort in the 100 and 200 back with respective runner-up marks of 1:00.19 and 2:12.09 while junior Vanessa Loewen came in third in the 100 with a 1:04.55 and in the 200 with a 2:12.93. Sills and Needham were 2-3 in the 100 fly with times of 59.48 and 1:00.37, respectively, as did sophomores Roni Meyers (4:38.48) and Holly Grender (4:40.92) in the 400 IM.
Tulane’s final 2-3 finish of the day came in the final event as senior Cari Caprio, Needham Jason and Sills combined for a mark of 3:40.75 while the quartet of Frantz, junior Claire Schelske, Cook and Schneider joined forces for a 3:44.59 in the 400 free relay.
Also posting second-place showing for Tulane were the team of Cook, Jason, Needham and Frantz in the 200 medley relay (1:48.18), Caprio in the 100 free (55.64), Jason in the 200 breast (2:25.37) and Schneider in the 500 free (5:14.51). Meyer paced the Tulane effort in the 200 free to finish third with a time of 1:58.26.
In diving, sophomore Lauren Arnold posted third-place scores of 238.42 in the one-meter springboard and 223.28 at the three-meter elevation. Not to be left out, fellow sophomore Maren Kjell was fourth in both events with a 209.92 at one-meter and 207.68 at three-meter.
The Green Wave close out the 2013-14 regular-season from Jan. 31 through Feb. 1 when they travel to Houston, Texas for a quad meet against LSU, Rice and Houston at the UH Campus Wellness & Recreation Center. From there, Tulane will compete in the C-USA Championship from Feb. 26-March 1 in Atlanta, Ga.
