SAN ANTONIO – The 19th-ranked women's swimming & diving team opened up the Tiger Invitational with stellar all-around performances, leading to Trinity taking a commanding lead after the first of a three-day competition.
Trinity scored a total of 434 points to start off the meet, doubling up its closest competition in Southwestern University (216), followed by NCAA II University of Texas-Permian Basin (202), NAIA's Loyola University-New Orleans, and McMurry University.
Junior
Emma Hagan (Overland Park, Kan. / Olathe East) had an outstanding start to her weekend as she was part of two relay victories, while also securing a "B" cut time with her first-place finish in the 50 freestyle. Hagan was one of four Tigers in the finals of the sprint race, finishing with a time of 23.63 to take the top spot. She was also the anchor on both the 200 free relay (1:36.43) and the 400 medley relay (3:51.19) teams that both earned victories. Trinity took both first and third in the 200 free relay, as the bronze-medal team finished in 1:39.25.
Junior
Caroline Myers (Austin, Texas / Bowie) also swam on both winning relay teams along with Hagan, as well as finishing second to Hagan in the 50 free with a time of 24.09 seconds.
First-year
Neely Burns (Phoenix, Ariz. / Thunderbird) was impressive once again for Trinity as she broke her own school-record in the 200 individual medley by more than two seconds. Burns also joined Hagan and Myers on the gold medal 400 medley relay team.
In addition to Myers and Hagan on the 200 free relay were first-years
Rachel Brown (Flower Mound, Texas / Marcus) and
Kylee Hutchinson (Corpus Christi, Texas / Flour Bluff). Both swimmers were also featured in the 50 free final with their junior teammates.
Fellow first-year
Audrey Jacobson (Dallas, Texas / School for the Talent and Gifted) improved her standing on Trinity's top 10 list in the 500 free, winning the event on Friday night with a time of 5:06.88. She also swam the opening leg of the winning 400 medley relay team. Trinity took first, second, and fourth in the 400 medley relay to dominate the event.
Another first-year swimmer in
Julie Schwam (Portland, Ore. / David Douglas) finished second in the 500 free with a time of 5:12.41, while the Tigers earned five of the top nine times in the event. First-year
Erica Peterson (Lantana, Texas / Guyer) also raced in the 200 IM with Burns, finishing in third place with a time of 2:12.21.
Up Next
The Tigers will continue the weekend meet with a prelim session of swimming at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. The Trinity divers will see their first action of the meet at 1:30 p.m., which will lead into the swimming finals that are scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m.
