University Of Houston Leads After Day 1 of Phill Hansel Invite

2017 UH Phill Hansell Invite (Women Only)

• Thursday, November 16th- Saturday, November 18th
• University of Houston, Houston, TX
• Short course yards
• Day 1 results (live results can be found here or on MeetMobile, search “2017 UH Phill Hansel Inv”)

Team Scores – Day 1

1. University of Houston – 473.5
2. Rice University – 403.5
3. Tulane University – 277
4. University of Idaho – 196
5. University of New Mexico – 192
6. U.S. Air Force Academy – 188
7. University of Northern Colorado – 176
8. Colorado State University – 156
9. Vanderbilt University – 153
10. University of North Texas – 54

11 NCAA ‘B’ cuts were achieved on day 1 of the Phill Hansel Invite, a women’s invite hosted by The University of Houston. 7 of those cuts were achieved by Houston swimmers. Day 1 featured the 200 free relay, 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free, 400 medley relay, and 1 meter diving. Houston leads the team rankings by 70 points, despite having their A 400 medley relay disqualified.

200 Free Relay

1. Tulane University A – 1:31.83
2. Rice University A – 1:31.93
3. University of Houston A – 1:32.07

The Tulane A team of Courtney Barker (23.41), Michelle Zelnick (22.53), Paris Zhang (23.15), Kaitlin Simpson (22.74).  That time is considerably faster than Tulane went at this invite last year, 1:33.21. In fact, all of the top 3 teams went faster than they did last they did last season. 2nd place Rice (Caldwell, Gillentine, Rhodes, Parham) went over half a second faster than last year’s time, 1:32.53. Houston took 3rd, going almost half a second faster than their winning time of 1:32.41 last year. Notably, Houston’s B team went 1:32.96, the fastest of any B team in the field by far.

500 Free

1. Adriana Palomino (New Mexico) – 4:42.77 (B)
2. Zarena Brown (Houston)- 4:47.99
3. Alicia Caldwell (Rice)- 4:48.58

Adriana Palomino, a Sophomore from New Mexico, won the event convincingly, picking up her first NCAA B cut of the season and going a best time. Her previous best time was from the Mountain West Conference Championships, where she went 4:44.15. There was a 2nd B cut to come out of this event, which was achieved by B final winner, Matea Sumajstoric, also from New Mexico. Sumajstoric blew away the B final, finishing with a time of 4:47.12, good for her first B cut of the season.

Klara Farkas of New Mexico took the C final with a time of 4:54.69. Lara Hernandez-Tome won the D final in a time of 4:55.89. Leah Fisk of Idaho won the E final in 4:56.85.

200 IM

1. Eleanna Koutsouveli (Houston) – 1:59.86 (B)
2. Laura Laderoute (Houston) – 2:00.76 (B)
3. Peyton Kondis (Houston) – 2:00.92 (B)

The 200 IM was a huge event, especially for Houston. Houston took the top 3 spots, with an NCAA B cut in each. Eleanna Koutsouveli had a huge race, breaking 2 minutes for the first time, and achieving her first B cut of the season. Her previous best time was set at this invite last year, at 2:02.69. Houston is putting up a formidable IM squad, with Laura Laderoute‘s 2:00.76, and Peyton Kondis‘ 2:00.92. There were 3 other B cuts achieved in the 200 IM, coming from Jaecey Parham (Rice), 2:01.02, Kaitlyn Swinney (Rice), 2:01.46, and Michelle Zelnick (Tulane), 2:01.55.

Michelle Zelnick also won the B final. Gaby Jimenez Peon of Houston took the C final with her time of 2:02.87. Kelsey Lawton of Colorado State won the D final, going 2:05.62. Nina Stitt of Colorado State won the E final with a 2:05.55.

50 Free

1. Koko Shinada (New Mexico) – 22.75 (B)
2. Ksenia Yuskova (Houston) – 22.86 (B)
3. Lauren Rhodes (Rice) – 22.91 (B)

The top 3 finishers in the 50 free were the only 3 swimmers in the event who broke 23 seconds and achieve NCAA B cuts. Koko Shinada won the event with a 22.75, a full .75 seconds faster her 23.50 she went last year at this invite. 2nd place finisher, Ksenia Yuskova, went a best time to achieve her first B cut of the season (previous best 23.45). 3rd place Lauren Rhodes was only 1 tenth off her lifetime best of 22.81.

Mykenzie Leehy (Houston) won the B final in a time 0f 23.21. Breanna Sapienza (Vanderbilt) took the C final with a 23.48. Brenda Cha (Vanderbilt) outpaced the D final with her time of 23.88. Jeni Griffin of Tulane won the E final with a 24.08.

400 Medley Relay

1. Rice A – 3:39.84
2. Tulane A – 3:41.19
3. Colorado State A – 3:43.54

In a turn of events fit for the end of a session, Houston’s A relay, which went 3:36.30, was disqualified for an early take-off. Houston’s A team would have won handily, but nonetheless their would-be time of 3:36.30 was way faster than Houston’s A relay last year, 3:41.44. Rice, Tulane, and Colarado State all went much faster than they did at the invite last season. Rice’s 3:39.84 was about a second and a half faster than last year’s time of 3:41.26. Rice’s Marie-Claire Schillinger split a speedy 1:00.07, to help boost the relay to a win. Tulane went 3:41.19, 3 seconds faster than last year, 3:44.06. Colorado State was DQ’d last year, but went a time of 3:45, 2 seconds slower than this year’s 3:43.54.

1 Meter Diving

1. Micaela Bouter (Houston) – 305.00
2. Lauren Burrel (Houston) – 263.45
3. Hailey Kessler (Idaho) – 257.90

Houston Senior Micaela Bouter and Lauren Burrel went 1-2 in the 1 meter diving for the 2nd year in a row. Bouter won by a huge margin this year, with her score of 305.00 being a little bit lower than her score last year of 321.80. Lauren Burrel’s score of 263.45 was also a little lower than her score last year, 283.15. Hailey Kessler moved up from 6th place last year to finish 3rd this year.