The West Florida women’s swimming and diving team faced its third Division I opponent to start the season at Tulane on Saturday, and the Argonauts fell by a score of 186-103. UWF is now 1-2 in dual meets early in the 2014-15 season, all against Division I opponents.
Several Argonauts had strong performances in the meet. Anna-Marie Macht (Markkleeberg, Germany) placed second in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:23.79, just 0.16 seconds behind winner Joy Jason. Macht also finished fourth in the 200 freestyle (1:58.35), and she was first of the scoring competitors and fourth overall in the 400 individual medley (4:36.05).
Madeline Pitt (Trussville, Ala.) and Paulina Szydlo (Wroclaw, Poland) also posted strong times in their individual events. Pitt was third in the 200 butterfly (2:15.84) and the 1000 free (10:34.34), and her time in the 400 IM (4:38.39) was the second best in school history and a new UWF freshman record. Szydlo placed second in the 100 breast (1:08.83) and third in the 200 breast (2:25.48).
Other individual highlights from freshmen included Angelina Gallastegui (Brandon, Fla.) in the distance events and Gabrielle Spangenberg (Chuluota, Fla.) in the 200 breast. Gallastegui swam the second best time in school history in the 1000 free (10:35.51) while placing fourth, and she also posted the third best time in UWF history (5:11.86) and placed third in the 500 free. Spangenberg set a new school freshman record in the 200 breast (2:27.49), which was also the third best in school history.
Josie McKee (Canton, Ohio) was again the standout for UWF in the diving events as the team’s highest finisher in both events. The junior placed second at 3 meters (212.18), and she was first of the scoring competitors and second overall at 1 meter (217.88).
“We had some great swims and some good scores on the boards today,” said UWF head coach Andrew Hancock. “Josie McKee finishing well on both boards was big for us. Anna-Marie Macht had a really solid race in the 200 breast. And Angelina Gallastegui has improved leads and bounds from just two weeks ago to give us some quality times in her events. We’re going in the right direction.”
The Tulane University women’s swimming and diving team posted top marks in all 16 events and junior diver Lauren Arnold posted an NCAA Zone Meet-qualifying score in the one-meter springboard as the Green Wave rolled past West Florida, 186-103, on Saturday afternoon at the Reily Student Recreation Center Natatorium.
Arnold’s 266.25 at one-meter stands as the No. 5 overall score in Tulane history and represents her second Zone cut mark of the 2014-15 season. The Green Wave (1-2), who exhibitioned the scores of the final three events of the day, posted 1-2-3 finishes in the 100 free, 200 free, 100 fly, 200 back and 400 IM to pick up their first dual-meet win of the year. West Florida, meanwhile, fell to 1-2.
“I just got done talking to the team and I told them they got an ‘A’ for effort but also for results,” Tulane head coach Katie Robinson said. “It’s nice to see the effort equal good results. We had some good swims across the board, but beyond that I think they were approaching the races a lot better today. The race strategy and the stuff we had been working on in practice is really starting to show up in the meets. I’m really happy with how they’re doing.
“We had at least 20 season-best times today, which was good to see. Our 400 IMers at the end of the meet did a really good job in that and their times were very close to what they went at conference last year, which is really good to see…It was good stuff all around. It was a good meet.”
All told, the Green Wave had 23 season-best times – not counting the Green Wave’s four marks in the 400 IM, which the team swam for the first time this year. Headlining the list of season-best performances was freshman Alex Brindisi, who had a lifetime-best time of 2:05.94 in the 200 fly to win the event – a mark which ranks No. 7 in the Tulane individual record book – to go with a season-best 57.72 to win the 100 fly.
Other season-best marks which led to individual wins were junior Mia Schachter won the 50 free and 100 free with respective times of 23.93 and 51.74, junior Rachel Schneider in both the 500 (5:09.50) and 1000 free (10:28.40), and freshman Alex Lakota in the 200 free with a 1:54.86.
Tulane also had season-best performances in the 200 medley relay where junior Elizabeth Cook, Schachter, senior Amy Needham and sophomore Jonna Frantz won with a 1:46.15 as well as the 200 free relay where freshman Kaitlin Simpson, Frantz, freshman Emma Lincoln and Schachter tallied a top-time of 1:36.36 in the final event of the day.
In addition to posting a Zone-qualifying mark in the one-meter springboard, Arnold won at the three-meter elevation with a 240.15. Fellow junior Maren Kjell, meanwhile, finished third in three-meter with 207.00 and posted the third-best score of the day in the one-meter with an exhibitioned marked of 212.55.
“I was pretty pleased overall with our performance,” Tulane diving coach Chris Devine said. “Lauren did a really nice job on the one-meter with a cut score for the Zone Championships and qualifying for NCAAs. As far as the year is going, we’re coming along pretty well. We’re not quite halfway into the season and there are still some things to work on, of course, but things are starting to round into shape a little bit coming up on our break.”
Also posting individual wins for the Green Wave were freshman Tirol Palmer in the 100 back (58.48), sophomore Joy Jason in the 100 breast (1:06.34) and 200 breast (2:23.63), and Cook in the 200 back (2:06.73). Junior Holly Grender, meanwhile, posted a meet-best mark of 4:31.60 in the exhibitioned 400 IM.
Palmer added a season-best 2:07.80 in the 200 back to finish second overall, as did senior Vanessa Loewen in the event with a 2:10.84 to come in third. Seniors Morgan Evans and Claire Schelske, meanwhile, clocked season-best marks in the 200 breast with a 2:30.51 and 2:33.32 to finish fifth and eighth, respectively.
“It’s a good confidence booster for us,” Robinson said of her team’s performance against the Argonauts. “West Florida is doing a good job of building their program and they have a lot of very good swimmers. I think some sickness may have hit their team a little bit, so I know they’re a bit stronger than they showed us today and I think they’re going to have a good season as well.”
The Green Wave return to action on Saturday, Nov. 8, when they travel to Nashville, Tenn., for a double-dual meet against Western Kentucky and host Vanderbilt. From there, Tulane will close out the fall portion of the schedule on Nov. 21-23 at the Pearland (Texas) Invitational. The team’s next home meet is slated for Jan. 24 when the Wave play host to North Texas in the Reily Center. Prior to the start of that meet, Tulane will honor the senior class of Evans, Loewen, Needham, Schelske, Molly Jubas and Laura Turpen with a special ceremony and admission is free.
TULANE QUOTES FOLLOWING SATURDAY’S 186-103 WIN OVER WEST FLORIDA
Head Coach Katie Robinson
Overall thoughts on the meet
“I just got done talking to the team and I told them they got an ‘A’ for effort but also for results. It’s nice to see the effort equal good results. We had some good swims across the board, but beyond that I think they were approaching the races a lot better today. The race strategy and the stuff we had been working on in practice is really starting to show up in the meets. I’m really happy with how they’re doing. We had at least 20 season-best times today, which was good to see. Our 400 IMers at the end of the meet did a really good job in that and their times were very close to what they went at conference last year, which is really good to see. We even had a lifetime-best time from one of our freshmen, Alex Brindisi. It’s great to see her swimming so well. We had some great swims from some of the other freshmen as well as some upperclassmen. Mia [Schachter] had a great meet, going 51 in the 100 freestyle and 23 in the 50. It was good stuff all around. It was a good meet.”
On posting the top time/score in every event today
“It’s a good confidence booster for us. West Florida is doing a good job of building their program and they have a lot of very good swimmers. I think some sickness may have hit their team a little bit, so I know they’re a bit stronger than they showed us today and I think they’re going to have a good season as well.”
On how her team prepares to wrap the fall portion of the 2014-15 season
“Like I said, it was a good confidence builder today but more than that, they’re learning how to race the events a lot better. We’ve got a quick turnaround before Vanderbilt and Western Kentucky, and they’re going to be very strong competition for us. We look to build upon this and be faster than we were here, just like we’ve been doing all season long and getting faster with each meet that we have.”
Diving Coach Chris Devine
Overall thoughts on the meet
“I was pretty pleased overall with our performance. Lauren did a really nice job on the one-meter with a cut score for the Zone Championships and qualifying for NCAAs. As far as the year is going, we’re coming along pretty well. We’re not quite halfway into the season and there are still some things to work on, of course, but things are starting to round into shape a little bit coming up on our break.”
On Lauren Arnold making her second Zone cut score of the season
“It’s very encouraging. She’s made it two times already this year that’s showing some consistency. She’s up around that 260-270 range pretty much every time on one-meter and that’s going to bode well for the rest of the year.”
On how much he feels the divers can get as the season progresses
“It can get a lot better. I see signs of brilliance but we haven’t really put it all together yet. That’s going to come, though. I saw it last year. This year, we stepped up the DD [degree of difficulty] a little bit and worked on a little bit harder dives so we’re looking to get a total score that is a little higher. They just kind of need to put them in the water the way that they can and we’ll get those scores.”
