The WKU women’s swimming and diving dominated in its tri-meet against Vanderbilt and Tulane, notching a 175.5-115.5 win over host Vanderbilt and a 201-96 victory against Tulane on Saturday afternoon.
The Lady Toppers recorded top-three finishes in 12 individual events while tabbing the fastest time in each of the relays. Michelle Craddock and Allie Duff each had three individual victories in the competition while newcomers Hannah Musser and Savanah Neddo posted two apiece.
Craddock had times of 1:51.21 in the 200 free, 51.19 in the 100 free and 4:56.95 in the 500 free. Duff finished the day with victories of 55.78 in the 100 back, 2:00.82 in the 200 back and 2:05.16 in the 200 IM. Musser tabbed her wins in the 200 fly (2:02.31) and 100 fly (55.04).
Neddo did work on the diving boards, hitting scores of 248.93 on the one meter and 244.95 on the three meter to tally the wins.
In the relays, the 200 medley relay crew of Nadine Laemmler, Whitney Spain, Musser and Logan Graumann won in 1:43.34. WKU closed the day with the top time in the 400 free relay, as Graumann, Craddock, Musser and Sydney King hit the wall in 3:28.49.
Ashley Forsyth posted a win in the 1000 free (10:15.91) while Kristen Nunnelly followed in second (10:23.66). Graumann took the top time in the 50 free (23.80) to round out the individual wins.
In the 100 back, Laemmler and Andrea Vandermey went 2-3 behind Duff’s victory, stopping the clock in 56.51 and 57.75, respectively. Vandermey also finished second in the 200 back with a time of 2:03.08. Forsyth and Nunnelly took a top-three spot in the 500 free and 200 IM, respectively, as Forsyth finished in 5:03.04 while Nunnelly tied for third with a time of 2:08.07.
Madison Rylee and Alexandra Mata each tabbed a third-place score on the boards. Rylee finished the one meter with an evaluation of 224.33 while Mata took third on the three meter with a total of 239.33 points.
The team will get a break from competition until Nov. 21-23 when both the Lady Toppers and Hilltoppers take on the field at the Louisville Invitational, competing in both long and short course events.
The Tulane University women’s swimming and diving team posted seven season-best times, but it was not enough as the Green Wave came up short in a double-dual against Western Kentucky and host Vanderbilt on Saturday at the Centennial Sportsplex.
Junior Mia Schachter and Lauren Arnold posted a pair of second-place finishes to highlight the individual accomplishments, and the quartet of freshman Emma Lincoln, sophomore Jonna Frantz, freshman Alex Lakota and Schachter combined for a season-best time of 3:32.11 to finish runner-up in the 400 free relay. At the end of the day, however, Tulane found itself on the short sides of a 201-96 matchup against the Hilltoppers and a 178-109 showing against the homestanding Commodores.
“We’ve been much better as a whole earlier this year than we showed today,” Tulane head coach Katie Robinson said. “We weren’t as sharp as I’ve seen us look and we didn’t execute the details as well as I would have liked to have seen. Western Kentucky and Vanderbilt are much higher ranked than we are. I would have liked to see our best effort put forward and it simply wasn’t there today.
“We had a few on the team do well for themselves and we posted seven-season best times total. I’m proud of them for being able to push past how they feel and just race. Our next meet is a major focus point for our team. We will use these losses to teach us what we can do to be better physically and mentally. Our best swims are ahead of us.”
Schachter was runner up in both the 100 free and 100 breast with respective times of 51.85 and 1:03.95. Arnold, meanwhile, was second in the one-meter springboard with a 246.53 and again at the three-meter elevation with a mark of 241.50.
Joining the 400 free relay unit with season-best performances on Saturday with fourth-place showings in their respective events were junior Roni Meyer in the 1000 free (10:32.17), freshman Kaitlin Simpson in the 200 free (1:54.61) and Schachter in the 50 free (24.21). In addition, junior Ali Talwar (5:10.48) and Meyer (5:10.97) added season-best showing in the 500 free to finish fifth and sixth, respectively, and junior Holly Grender followed suit in the 200 IM (2:11.62 to finish sixth.
The unit of junior Elizabeth Cook, sophomore Joy Jason, senior Vanessa Loewen and Frantz led the Green Wave effort in the 200 medley relay with a 1:47.19 to finish fifth overall, and freshman Tirol Palmer paced Tulane with a fourth-place showing in the 100 back with a time of 58.49.
Jason finished fifth in the 200 breast to lead the Wave with a 2:27.69, Grender clocked a 2:07.91 to finish sixth in the 200 back, and both Loewen and sophomore Ellie Sills finished seventh in the 100 fly (58.29) and 200 fly (2:08.38), respectively.
Saturday’s meet at Vanderbilt marked the final dual-meet competition of the fall for the Green Wave as 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, Amy Needham, Claire Schelske, Molly Jubas and Laura Turpen with a special ceremony and admission is free.
