Fort Worth, TX – The Texas Christian University (TCU) Horned Frogs opened their 2014-15 Women’s Swim and Dive season on September 27, 2014 with a victory at home against the Tulane Green Wave. These two teams were last pitted against one another in 2005, where Tulane came out on top; however, that was not the case at TCU’s University Rec Center today. Coming off of a successful 6-2 record (3-0 in conference) in the 2013-14 season, TCU Head Coach, Richard Sybesma, was able to retain 7 Senior women coming into this year. Tulane, who finished last year in 6th place within Conference USA, returns with 17 members of last season’s roster, including Miah Schacter (Junior) and Ellie Sills (Sophomore). Schacter participated in the Phillips 66 National Championships over the Summer, while Sills earned last season’s Conference USA Freshman of the Year designation.
By the conclusion of the meet, TCU would rack up a total of 12 first place finishes across the 14 swimming events. This string was kicked off with TCU winning the very first event, the 200y medley relay. Swimming on that relay were Lyndsie Gibson, Devin Newton, Emily Gibson (sister of Lyndsie), and Julia Sanders, clocking a swift time of 1:45.58. Tulane came up short of the win, but put points on the board with their team of Elizabeth Cook, Joy Jason, Vanessa Loewen, and Schacter in a second place time of 1:46.18. TCU continued the top spot streak with an immediate win by Sara Brzozowski (Junior) in the second event, the 1000y Freestyle. Although the 2013 2nd Team All-Big 12 Brzozowski holds the team record in this event, her time of 10:30.14 was well off of her record of 9:57.93 from February 2013. Brzozowski would also go on to earn second place in the 500 Free, where she was defeated by teammate Mikayla Winkler, a Junior whose time of 5:06.95 appears to be in line with where she would expect to be at the beginning of the season (Winkler was 4:52-range in November 2013).
Tulane’s first individual event win came from Sophomore Joy Jason in the 100y Breaststroke. Her time of 1:05.41 is very close to the 1:05.81 she posted against Arkansas – Little Rock in October 2013. However, this Port Allen, Louisiana native would be stopped short of a breaststroke sweep by Frog Freshman Lindsay Shabet, whose time of 2:22.29 earned the win over Jason’s second place 2:23.33. TCU’s Lyndsie Gibson (an Arkansas transfer), however, did pull off the backstroke sweep, coming away with wins in both the 100 and 200 distances over Elizabeth Cook of Tulane. She won decisively in both races: 56.64 to Cook’s 57.90 in the 100; 2:05.09 to Cook’s 2:07.17 in the 200). Earning a win of her own, 3-Time-All-State (TX) Gibson sister Emily won her first event as a Frog with her 57.49 in the 100 Fly. Tulane’s next individual win did not come until Event 9, where Mia Schachter pushed through the 100 Free field with the top time of 52.97. She had earlier earned second place behind Sophomore Julia Sanders (TCU) who won the splash n’ dash in a time of 24.14.
The Frogs’ dominance continued over the course of the contest, culminating in victory in the final event, the 400y Free Relay, where their exhibition time of 3:32.01 beat out Tulane’s 3:32.95. TCU next travels to Texas-Permian Basin in Andrews, TX on October 12th, while Tulane hosts the LSU Tigers on October 3rd.
