Marshall Freshman Sirena Rowe Puts up NCAA Qualifying Time in 50 Free

2016 Conference USA Championships

• February 23-26th, 2017
• Georgia Tech Aquatic Center, Atlanta, Georgia
• Championship Central
• Results Through Day 3

ATLANTA – The Marshall swimming and diving team set four school records in the fifth session of the 2017 Conference USA Championships at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center in Atlanta.

Marshall currently sits in third place at the C-USA Championships. FIU leads with 641 points, followed by Rice (501), Marshall (471), North Texas (280), Old Dominion (209) and Florida Atlantic (156).

Freshman Sirena Rowe blasted a 22.08 in a time trial of the 50 freestyle. That time currently ranks 19th in the nation, and is likely to earn her an invite to the 2017 NCAA Championships.

The evening started with the 400 IM. Sophomore Caroline Wanner grabbed the bronze medal by finishing at 4:19.03. Emma Lockyer was right behind for fourth place with a time of 4:21.80. Madeline Schaffer finished seventh at 4:26.07. Teel Hartmann was 10th overall out of the consolation final.

Marshall returned to the podium in the 100 fly. Senior Chloe Parsemain lowered her own school record by finishing third with a time of 53.62. Gloriya Mavrova finished seventh at 54.65, Freshman Hannah Robins was 13th (55.48) and Shir Wasserman was 14th (55.67). All four performances were lifetime bests and all rank within the top five all-time in program history.

Catherine Bendziewicz broke her second individual school in the 200 freestyle, finishing fifth at 1:47.87. In the consolation final, Maggie Stovall finished 12th overall with a time of 1:50.94. Savannah Ruedt followed at 13th (1:51.26) and Angelica di Marzio was 15th at 1:51.65.

Lauren Cowher was the lone scorer in the 100 breast. She finished 15th with a time of 1:05.85.

A trio of Marshall swimmers placed in the 100 back. Rowe was fourth (54.11), Carin Ingram finished sixth with a lifetime best, 54.65. Jordyn O’Dell was 10th with a time of 55.94.

Marshall scored major points on the 1 meter diving board. Megan Wolons broke an 11 year old school record by finishing fourth with 272.60 points. The old record was 256.20, held by Casey Mulholland set in 2006. Kelly Toner was fifth in the event with a lifetime best, 256.05, which nearly broke the previous school record, as well. Freshman Madison Young, in her first Championship Final finished seventh with a lifetime best, 234.75.

The final event of the evening was the 400 medley relay. Marshall again broke the school record, this time by almost three seconds. The quartet of Ingram, Bendziewicz, Parsemain, and Mavrova combined for a time of 3:42.59 to capture the bronze medal.

COACH’S CORNER
Quotes by head coach Bill Tramel

On the night…
“This was just an amazing evening. Everything wasn’t perfect, but there were so many highlights. In our team meeting after the session, I listed off all of the all-time top 10 Marshall performances that we have done this meet. It really is impressive, and 10 are school records.”

On Sirena Rowe…
“I’m not sure all of our team understands the significance of qualifying for NCAA’s. It really is a game changer for a program. I normally don’t like to make major changes during a competition but we strayed from that over the last couple days. We reviewed Sirena’s swims on the iPad and made some adjustments to her start. But the biggest thing we talked about was her breathing. She was taking a breath at the 37 and a half mark. We timed it and it was at roughly 15 seconds in. So we talked about how she only needed to hold her breath for another 7 seconds. Surprise, surprise, that was the difference maker. We are so proud of her.”

On Chloe Parsemain’s performance…
“Chloe’s fly was special too. She has been so close to a medal in that event but always just a little short. She gutted out one of the toughest last 25 yards I’ve seen in a long time. Chloe must have heard me because about 6 meters out I yelled ‘keep your head down’. Obviously she didn’t hear me, but she was thinking that and was able to touch the wall one tenth of second ahead of fourth to get that medal. I’ll never forget her smile and tears she was crying when she was hugging all of her teammates.”

On the divers…
“Not taking anything away from Megan Wolons breaking the school record, but our whole diving crew was awesome tonight. So happy for Kelly and our freshman as well, who have developed so well.”

Looking ahead…
“It is going to be a battle royale tomorrow. We are evenly matched with Rice and the team that is the best tomorrow will take home the second place trophy. Our motto is we are the best at the end. The end of the race, the end of practices, the end of the meet. We will be ready.”

UP NEXT
The C-USA Swimming and Diving Championships finishes Saturday, with time trials starting at 10:30 a.m. ET. The finals will begin at 6 p.m., and will be streamed live on ESPN3.