GARLAND, Texas – Trinity's 17th-ranked women's swimming & diving team finished off its 22nd straight Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship on Saturday, running away from the field with a dominating performance from start to finish.
Trinity's coaches were honored as the SCAC Women's Swimming & Diving Coaching Staff of the Year, led by Head Coach
Cathleen Pruden. Assistant Coaches
Mabel Fowler and
George Black, along with Diving Coach
Tommy Law were all recognized for their part in the Tiger women winning another conference championship.
Amy Benson (Newmarket, N.H. / Phillips Exeter Academy) was named the SCAC Women's Swimmer of the Meet, tying with teammate
Neely Burns (Phoenix, Ariz. / Thunderbird) for the most points scored in the meet. Benson and Burns also tied on the number of "B cut" times earned in the meet for the first tiebreaker, but Benson set a new conference meet record to break the tie and earn the top honor this year.
Trinity won the women's meet by nearly 300 points, finishing with a grand total of 1,114 points in the four-day event. Colorado College was second with 815 points, followed by Southwestern University (TX) in third (551), University of the Ozarks (AR) in fourth (314), Austin College (TX) in fifth (266), Centenary College (LA) in sixth (265), McMurry University (TX) in seventh (210), and University of St. Thomas (TX) in eighth (115).
The 1-meter diving competition followed this morning's swimming prelims and three Tigers took third, fourth, and fifth place.
Charlotte Brod (St. Louis, Mo. / Parkway North) earned All-SCAC honors by scoring 329.55 points to finish third and lead Trinity's divers.
Kara Moss (Houston, Texas / Stratford) finished fourth with 286.95 points and
Alexanda Heinrich (Lubbock, Texas / Lubbock) was fifth with 271.90 points.
Benson led a group of six Trinity swimmers in the finals of the 100 freestyle, winning with a "B cut" time of 50.58 seconds.
Julia Carter (Dripping Springs, Texas / Dripping Springs) finished second in 51.95, followed by
Allison Ortiz (Houston, Texas / Stratford) in fifth with a time of 53.23 and
Jules Wiehrdt (Waco, Texas / Midway) in eighth at 54.97 seconds.
Rachel Brown (Flower Mound, Texas / Marcus) won the Consolation Finals with a time of 53.56 that was actually the seventh-fastest overall time in the evening session.
Sienna Nordquist (Albuquerque, N.M. / Hope Christian) was 11th in 54.39 to round out a prolific event for the Tigers.
Burns had her time to shine in the next event, winning the 200 breaststroke with a "B cut" time of 2:18.00. Five other Tigers were in the top nine, beginning with
Anna Stouffer (St. Louis, Mo. / Clayton) and her time of 2:26.48 that wound up fourth.
Marian Penry (Greenwood Village, Colo. / Regis Jesuit) was fifth in 2:26.59, while
Sid McCullough (Centennial, Colo. / Cherry Creek) finished fifth in 2:26.59.
Lindsay McKinney (Victoria, Texas / Saint Joseph) came in eighth in 2:29.01, with
Ellie Devens (Houston, Texas / Tomball) winning the Consolation Final in 2:32.45 to finish ninth overall.
Erin Morie (St. Louis, Mo. / Cor Jesu Academy) capped her week by doing something that no other swimmer in the SCAC had accomplished in this century. She opened the evening session by winning the 1,650 freestyle in a time of 17:45.69, then came back with another win in the last individual swim of the night. Morie took first in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:07.75 and became the first swimmer in the conference since 1999 to win both the 1,650 free and the 200 fly in the same meet. She was joined by two other Tigers in the top five of the 200 fly:
Diane Park (Beaverton, Ore. / Mountainside) was third in 2:13.69 to earn All-SCAC honors and
Erica Peterson (Lantana, Texas / Guyer) finished fifth in 2:16.18.
The 400 free relay was the final event of the meet and Trinity was once again in gold medal position for both the Consolation and Championship Finals. The team of Ortiz, Nordquist, Stouffer, and Brown finished in 3:35.02 to win the consolations, though that time was the third-fastest of the night. Jacobson, Burns, Carter, and Benson were part of the SCAC Championship team that finished with a "B cut" time of 3:26.30. That time also establishes a new SCAC Meet record, a new SCAC Open record, and a new Trinity University record.
Coach Speak
"This is a phenomenal group of student-athletes we've had the privilege of working with this year," said Coach Pruden. "We have a spunky, feisty group of first-years who have been a joy to get to know and they made major contributions to our championship in just their first year here. Our returners relied on their experience to turn in some really special performances tonight. I can't miss the opportunity to shout out Erin for her historic double tonight! Onward to NCAA for the Tigers!"
Up Next
Trinity will await the official announcements for the NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships, which will be held March 19-22 in Greensboro, N.C.
