Tulane's McEachrane Swims Well at NCAAs

Tulane freshman Linda McEachrane wrapped up the Green Wave's first swimming season in 14 years with a pair of swims at the NCAA Championships in College Station, Texas. McEachrane qualified for the NCAA meet in both the 50 and 100-meter freestyle events and achieved season and career bests in the preliminaries of both events.

McEachrane, a native of Petite Valley, Trinidad, swam in the preliminaries of the 50-meter freestyle Thursday and came in with a time of 26.09 to record her best time of the season, shaving nearly eight-tenths of a second off her previous best. Saturday, the lone Tulane representative at the NCAAs posted a lifetime-best time of 56.82 in the 100-meter freestyle on the short course at the Student Recreation Center pool at Texas A&M University. That time was more than two seconds better than her previous best in the event.

"This is one of the fastest meets in the world for women and for Tulane to be represented at this meet as a first-year program was really an achievement in itself," said Green Wave head coach Daniella Irle, who led her squad to a 13-2 dual meet record and a fifth-place finish at the Conference USA Championships.

"Linda swam her races in both events and I'm really proud of the way she represented Tulane," Irle continued. "She was not intimidated, she didn't let the pressure get to her and for a freshman it was just a great experience."

Tulane, which fielded a team of just 15 swimmers in 2003-04, will add four prep All-Americans to its roster for 2004-05.