LSU Sweeps Houston, Rice And Tulane In Quad Meet

HOUSTON, Texas, February 1. LSU wrapped up the second day of competition in Houston by sweeping the Cougars, Rice and Tulane in the four-team meet. Rice beat both Houston and Tulane, while Houston came away with one victory over Tulane in their head-to-head dual.

Louisiana State Press Release

The LSU women’s swimming team took to the pool for the final day of competition Saturday morning at the CRWC Natatorium. The Lady Tigers defeated Rice 223-124, Tulane 287-65 and Houston 278-75.

“Saturday started off a little sluggish for us,” LSU swimming coach Dave Geyer said. “Danielle Stirrat had a terrific meet. She posted the fastest time in the 200 freestyle on Friday and followed that up with a great 200 backstroke today.”

Stacey Stanfield led the Lady Tigers off with the first individual win of the day in the 500 freestyle (4:54.95).

Taryn Mackenzie finished third in the 100 breaststroke with a mark of 1:03.85.

Danielle Stirrat took first in the 200 backstroke with a mark of 1:56.96. Makenna Wilson followed in second place with a time of 2:01.64.

Megan Cox and Emily Weaner posted another 1-2 finish, this time in the 200 butterfly. Cox finished in first place with a time of 2:03.27 and Weaner touched the wall second with a mark of 2:03.55.

Stirrat tied her season high in the 100 freestyle with a mark of 51.24 for a second place finish.

Kara Kopcso earned her third win of the weekend with a first place finish in the 400 IM (4:23.51). Sophie Weber touched the wall second with a mark of 4:27.07.

LSU’s relay teams came up second in the 200 freestyle relay and 400-medley relay. The team of Caley Oquist, Torrey Bussey, Amber Carter and Leah Troskot in the 400 and the team of Carter, Rainey White, Troskot in the 200 relay.

The LSU Swimming and Diving team continues training before competing in the SEC Championships in Athens, Ga. Feb. 18-22.

“Kara had another solid meet and it’s fun to watch,” Geyer said. “The whole women’s team brings their own significance to this team and it’s special to be a part of. They all understand their roles and are willing to make contributions to the team.”

For more information and updates on LSU Swimming and Diving please visit LSUsports.net, ‘like’ us on Facebook at LSU Swimming and Diving or follow us on Twitter @LSUswimdive.

Houston Press Release

The University of Houston swimming and diving program concluded the 2013-14 regular season with a win dual meet victory over Tulane while dropping a pair of duals to LSU and Rice. LSU posted a 4-0 record over the weekend’s meet to come out on top of all four teams that participated at the CRWC Natatorium.

With the 1-2 mark over the quad-meet weekend, Houston finished with a .500 dual-meet record (5-5) for the 2013-14 season. That marks the program’s best regular-season record since the 2008-09 Cougars went 10-6. Murphy joins the program’s founder, Phill Hansel, as the only coaches to post a .500+ record during their first season on the job. Hansel’s 1975-76 team recorded a 2-2 dual-meet mark.

“I’m really happy with our seniors to finish the meet with a win against Tulane,” said head swimming coach Rich Murphy. “To end the regular season with a 5-5 dual meet record says a lot about the direction of our program. That’s something we can really build on moving forward.

“We had better energy today than yesterday and we want to keep on building that energy as we move towards conference.”

Taylor Olanski (290.45) and Danielle Shedd (253.60) represented the UH diving program well on the 3M boards taking a third and fifth-place finish against the divers from LSU and Tulane. The freshman Olanski has finished in the top three spots in 11 of the 12 events she has competed in this year.

For the second day in a row, senior Heather Winn was the Cougars top racer in the pool as she recorded a third-place finish in the 500 free (5:00.56) to make the most of her Senior Day.

Classmate Laykin Lowry also gave a strong showing in her last completion at the UH rec taking sixth in the 200 fly (2:07.51).

Houston’s 200 free relay team of Krystan Morrell, Lindsay Schultz, Taylor Gregory and Doroteja Bednjanec posted a season-best time of 1:36.06 to place third in the day’s final event.

Saturday marked the finale of the regular season with Senior Day launching the afternoon’s meet. Houston’s five seniors (Colleen Donovan, Lizzie Justice, Lowry, Krystan Morrell and Winn) have one more meet scheduled with the American Athletic Conference Championships Feb. 19-22.

“It was a thrill to be able to have the seniors and great parent participation today. These seniors have stuck together really tight and they’ve grown up a lot during their time here. They’ve certainly had a different experience with three different head coaches and four different coaching staffs while at UH. Seeing them on the bulkhead with big smiles on their faces, it’s a testament to their resiliency and I’m proud of them all.”

Houston heads to the 2014 American Athletic Conference Championships held in Louisville, Ky. from Feb. 19-22.

Tulane Press Release

Five Green Wave individuals posted season-best times and the quartet of sophomore Mia Schachter, junior Amy Needham, sophomore Holly Grender and freshman Ellie Sills followed suit in the 400 freestyle relay followed suit as the Tulane University women’s swimming and diving team opened its final regular-season event of the 2013-14 season with a solid showing in a quad-meet against LSU, Conference USA foe Rice and host Houston on Friday at the UH Campus Wellness and Recreation Center.

Through 10 events, the Green Wave trail in all three head-to-head contests as Tulane is 28 points behind Houston (107-79), 86 behind Rice (133-47) and 118 behind LSU (152-34). The meet concludes on Saturday with events slated to begin at 11 a.m.

The 400 free relay finished fifth overall with a season-best time of 3:35.34, and Schachter’s leadoff split of 52.24 was a season best as well. Also posting season-best marks on Friday were freshman Ali Talwar (10:39.18) and sophomore Harley Jackson (10:54.25) in the 1000 freestyle, sophomore Holly Grender (1:56.94) in the 200 freestyle and junior Vanessa Loewen (58.77) in the 100 butterfly.

In addition, sophomore Elizabeth Cook clocked her best non-relay split time in the 100 backstroke with a mark of 58.72 in the 100 back while freshman Joy Jason’s 2:22.16 in the 200 breaststroke was her third-fastest time of the year in the event and her performance stands as the No. 7 overall time in Tulane history.

Tulane opened the day in the 200 medley relay where Cook, Schachter, Needham and freshman Jonna Frantz led the team with a 1:47.63 to finish seventh, and sophomore Roni Meyer led the Green Wave effort in the 1000 free with a mark of 10:28.05 to come in fifth.

Swimming the 100 fly for the first time during the 2013-14 campaign, Schachter led the way with a 57.70 to finish eighth overall while Jason’s effort in the 200 breast and Cook’s performance in the 100 back and Grender’s time in the 2100 free paced the team with respective finishes of fifth, seventh and 13th.

Schachter also led Tulane in the 50 free, touching the wall at 24.26 to come in sixth overall, and Sills headlined the Green Wave in the 200 IM with a 2:12.79 to finish eighth. In diving, sophomore Lauren Arnold came in seventh with a 236.70 – the No. 13 overall score in school history.

Following the final day of the Houston Quad-Meet, Tulane will compete in the C-USA Championship from Feb. 26-March 1 in Atlanta, Ga.

RESULTS
LSU 278 Houston 75
Rice 253 Houston 91
Houston 202 Tulane 150
LSU 223 Rice 124
LSU 287 Tulane 65
Rice 252 Tulane 89

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