SAN ANTONIO – The 16th-ranked Trinity women's swimming & diving team concluded this fall's competition by finishing off a resounding victory on the final day of the Tiger Invitational on Sunday.
The Tigers won by a large enough margin that it might seem made up, scoring 1,400.5 total points to more than double their nearest competitors. Runner-up Southwestern University finished with 635.5 points to defeat third-place Loyola University-New Orleans by more than 100 points themselves. University of Texas-Permian Basin was fourth with nearly 500 points, followed by McMurry University, Austin College, and University of St. Thomas.
There were seven events in Sunday's competition, including a second day of diving, one relay, and five individual races of varying distances and strokes. Of those events, Trinity earned four victories and had 19 top-five performances.
The most prolific race for the Tigers was the 100 freestyle, which featured seven Trinity swimmers in the final after another outstanding morning during the prelims.
Amy Benson (Newmarket, N.H. / Phillips Exeter Academy) won with her time of 51.56 seconds, followed closely by
Caroline Myers (Austin, Texas / Bowie) in second (52.52) and
Julia Carter (Dripping Springs, Texas / Dripping Springs) in third (53.21).
Kylee Hutchinson (Corpus Christi, Texas / Flour Bluff) was fourth after reaching the finish line in 53.33 and
Jules Wiehrdt (Waco, Texas / Midway) was just 0.04 back in fifth place (53.37).
Allison Ortiz (Houston, Texas / Stratford) took seventh with a time of 53.78 and
Rachel Brown (Flower Mound, Texas / Marcus) was eighth in 54.09 seconds.
Jenna Koh (Thomasville, N.C. / Ledford) led three Trinity swimmers in the top five spots in the 200 breaststroke, finishing in 2:26.84 to win gold.
Lindsay McKinney (Victoria, Texas / Saint Joseph) was third in 2:32.24, while
Ellie Devens (Houston, Texas / Tomball) finished fifth with a time of 2:35.17.
Emma Hagan (Overland Park, Kan. / Olathe East) also had a group of three Tiger swimmers in the top five in the 200 butterfly, with Hagan finishing in 2:04.27 to take the top honors.
Erin Morie (St. Louis, Mo. / Cor Jesu Academy) was the runner-up in 2:09.15, while
Erica Peterson (Lantana, Texas / Guyer) finished fifth with a time of 2:14.90.
Following this morning's prelims, Trinity had three divers finish in the top eight of today's 1-meter competition.
Brooklyn Fuscone (Hoffman Estates, Ill. / Hoffman Estates) had a fifth-place finish with her score of 329.35, while
Alexana Heinrich (Lubbock, Texas / Lubbock) was sixth after notching 276.70 points, and
Kara Moss (Houston, Texas / Stratford) was eighth with 236.15 points.
Neely Burns (Phoenix, Ariz. / Thunderbird) and
Audrey Jacobson (Dallas, Texas / School for the Talent and Gifted) finished second and third in the 200 backstroke to begin this evening's final swim session. Burns finished in 2:02.18, while Jacobson was on the wall in 2:05.52.
Renee Trombley (Fort Collins, Colo. / Fossil Ridge) was fourth to lead Trinity in the 1,650 free with a time of 18:45.15 and Morie was just over a second behind her teammate in 18:46.34 for fifth place.
The final event of the meet was the 400 free relay and Trinity refused to let up even a little. The Tigers had three teams win the top three spots in the race to close out the weekend. Hagan and Benson picked up another victory on the day by teaming up with Burns and Myers for a winning time of 3:28.01. Carter, Ortiz, Wiehrdt, and Hutchinson were second with a time of 3:33.24. Third place went to Jacobson, Peterson, Koh, and
Elizabeth Molique (Scottsdale, Ariz. / Saguaro) with their time of 3:36.21.
Coach Speak
"We raced hard tonight and put up some gritty performances," revealed Head Coach
Cathleen Pruden. "I am so proud of the way the women wrapped up this weekend. We are in an impressive place for our midway point of this year."
Up Next
Trinity is done with competitions for the fall semester, but will continue training through the Winter Break. The Tigers return after the New Year with its final home meet of the 2023-24 season, hosting Austin College on January 6. It will also be Senior Day for the Tiger men's and women's senior swimmers and divers.
