Tulane
One day after seeing two school records established, the Tulane University swim team was at it again on Saturday as juniors Holly Grender and Mia Schachter – along with freshman Emma Lincoln – set Green Wave marks in the 400 IM, 100 breast and 20 0free, respectively, during day two of the Pearland Invitational at the Pearland Natatorium.
The record setters were three of eight personal-best times by members of the Tulane team and 14 of the team’s 16 individual performances were season-best mark. The Green Wave remain second among the four participating teams, adding 296 points to Friday’s scores to bring the team total to 596. Rice leads the team standings at 835 while North Texas has 439 and host Houston has 311.
“We were so happy to have the first day go so well, and yet the second day was even more incredible. To set three school records in prelims is an outstanding accomplishment and also shows the integrity of our women to warm up and focus in on their race strategy. Earlier this year, our team struggled on back-to-back days of competition, and yet this team took the bull by the horns today. Usually the goal is to just make it back in the top two heats. I was very glad to see our women taking every opportunity to swim fast including the morning prelims, and that is simply not easy. It is very good to see their mentality improve and all the hard work be put to use.”
Schachter, who tied her own school record in the 50 free yesterday, posted a 1:00.44 in the preliminaries of the 100 breast on Saturday and followed that up with a 1:00.24 in the finals to not only come away with the individual win but post her second NCAA B-Cut Qualifying time in as many days. Her 22.90 during Friday’s 50 free also provisionally qualified the California native for the NCAA Championship, and both of her marks in the 100 breast surpassed her previous school record of 1:00.90 set last Feb. 28 at the Conference USA Championship
Grender set the Tulane 400 IM mark by clocking a 4:22.08 in the preliminaries of the event and finished second in the finals with a time of 4:22.69. It was her second IM record of the weekend after shattering the 200 IM record on Friday, and both of her times in the 400 distance surpassed the former record of 4:25.22 by Amanda Williams on Feb. 24, 2006, at the C-USA meet. Lincoln, meanwhile, touched the wall in the 200 free preliminaries with 1:50.21 on the clock – breaking Rachel Ranson’s mark of 1:50.28 on Feb. 15, 2012, at the C-USA Championship – and finished third in the events’ finals with a time of 1:50.35.
“Holly’s record was so inspiring. She has proven her worth yet again as a top IM swimmer,” Robinson said. “The 400 IM is perhaps the most grueling event in swimming and, regardless of how nervous she gets before the race, she handles it so well. When Emma set the school [200 free] record in the morning, she didn’t even know it was the record. She was so happy to see her time and then didn’t believe us when we told her she set the record. It was a funny freshmen moment.
“And Mia continues to impress me with her swims at this meet. She set the record by dropping half a second off her best during prelims, then lowered it again in finals to solidify that record and the first-place title. She is still hungry to break the one-minute barrier. Right now, her time should place her within the Top 40 swimmers in the country.”
While Schachter posted Tulane’s lone win of the day, the Green Wave posted three second-place finishes and an additional three third-place showings. In the 200 medley relay, junior Elizabeth Cook, Schachter, freshman Kaitlin Simpson and Lincoln joined forces to finish runner up with a 1:42.60 – a time that ranks second in Tulane history – while the quartet of senior Vanessa Loewen, sophomore Joy Jason, senior Amy Needham and freshman Tirol Palmer clocked a 1:44.30 to finish fourth and post the No. 5 time in the Green Wave annals.
Tulane’s other second-place showing came from Cook in the 100 back where she posted a 56.18 in the finals after posting a season-best 56.13 during the preliminaries. Jason was finished second to Schachter on the team in the 100 breast with a finals time 1:04.35 to come in third overall, and posted a season-best 1:03.74 in the prelims. The Green Wave’s final third-place showing came in Saturday’s finale when freshman Alex Lakota teamed with Grender, Sills and Lincoln to post a 7:29.20 in the 800 free relay. The unit’s time was the fourth-fastest in Tulane history.
The three-day Pearland Invitational concludes on Sunday with the 1650 free, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly and 400 free relay. Following this weekend’s meet, the Green Wave will enjoy a break before opening the spring slate on Saturday, Jan. 10, when they travel to Coral Gables, Fla., to take on Rutgers and host Miami. Tulane’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 contest, Tulane will honor the senior class of Morgan Evans, Molly Jubas, Vanessa Loewen, Amy Needham, Claire Schelske, and Laura Turpen with a special ceremony and admission is free.
COACH ROBINSON’S QUOTES FOLLOWING DAY 2 OF THE PEARLAND CLASSIC
Overall thoughts on Saturday’s performance
“We were so happy to have the first day go so well, and yet the second day was even more incredible. To set three school records in prelims is an outstanding accomplishment and also shows the integrity of our women to warm up and focus in on their race strategy. Earlier this year, our team struggled on back-to-back days of competition, and yet this team took the bull by the horns today. Usually the goal is to just make it back in the top two heats. I was very glad to see our women taking every opportunity to swim fast including the morning prelims, and that is simply not easy. It is very good to see their mentality improve and all the hard work be put to use. Today, we added eight more PR’s to our list for this meet.”
On the Green Wave’s relay teams
“Both relays tonight were faster than those relays from conference last year, and we were pretty pleased with how those went. I was thanking the team tonight for swimming so fast that it made putting the best relays together a challenge with all the options we could possibly use. As you can see from the results, our B relay is not far behind our A relay. This is a testament to the depth of our program as well as how strong our team bond is to swim faster than individual events during a relay.
On Holly Grender setting the 400 IM record
“Holly’s record was so inspiring. She has proven her worth yet again as a top IM swimmer. The 400 IM is perhaps the most grueling event in swimming and, regardless of how nervous she gets before the race, she handles it so well. It’s very exciting to see her crush the old record and it was also good to see Roni Meyer and Laura Turpen swim faster than they did last year at C-USAs.
On the 200 free
“Seeing three freshmen light up the 200 freestyle with sophomore Ellie Sills in the top A final was extremely encouraging when considering the future of our team. When Emma set the school record in the morning, she didn’t even know it was the record. She was so happy to see her time and then didn’t believe us when we told her she set the record. It was a funny freshmen moment.
On Mia Schachter setting the 100 breast record
“Mia continues to impress me with her swims at this meet. She set the record by dropping half a second off her best during prelims, then lowered it again in finals to solidify that record and the first-place title. She is still hungry to break the one-minute barrier. Right now, her time should place her within the top 40 swimmers in the country.”
On the 100 back
“Elizabeth Cook has been knocking on the door of a 55-second swim in her 100 backstroke for years now and fell just a hair short again tonight. Her spirit and tenacity about that race is very fun to see and watch. She has so much potential and I love seeing the drive and perseverance within her to grasp that goal. Instead of it getting the best of her, she becomes more passionate about it with each swim. While she still has a lot to learn when it comes to race strategy and technique, many can learn from her resilient attitude.”
