OSU Fifth After Day One at Phill Hansel Invite

Thursday, November 19

Houston, TX

All Day

Oregon State

Houston Invitational

Photo by: Dave Nishitani/Oregon State Athletics

November 20, 2015 | Women's Swimming

By: Athletic Communications

HOUSTON, Texas – Paced by a victory by senior Sammy Harrison in the 500-yard freestyle Thursday night, the Oregon State swimming team sits at fifth in the field of 10 at the Phill Hansel Invitational held at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Natatorium on the campus of the University of Houston.

The Beavers tallied 214 points through Thursday to reach fifth place, behind host institution Houston, which is in fourth with 243 points. The Rice swimming team leads the field with 310 points through day one.

After swimming the 500 in 4:50.37 in preliminary heats, Harrison clocked a time of 4:46.08 in the finals to win the event by more than five seconds. The Henderson, Nev. native remains undefeated in the event, recording the third-fastest 500 time in program history, while meeting D1 B qualifying standards in the event (4:47.79).

Oregon State opened competition on Thursday by taking third in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The foursome of Sophie MacEwan, Andrea Young, Constance Toulemonde and Claire McLaggan clocked a time of 1:33.79, placing narrowly behind event winner UC-Davis (1:33.18) and Tulane (1:33.40).

MacEwan finished a notable first day of competition with a fourth-place finish in the 50-yard freestyle, touching the wall in 23.55 in preliminary heats and improving on it with a time of 23.46 in the finals.

The Beavers wrapped up a solid opening day at the Phill Hansel Invitational with a fifth-place finish in the 400-yard medley relay. Amani Amr, Czsarina Isleta, Young and Anni Hecker secured their top-five finish in the event with a time of 3:46.04, edging out North Texas (3:46.14).

Following the Oregon State swimming team's meet this weekend will be the U.S. Winter Nationals held in Federal Way, Wash. The meet will take place all day from Thursday, Dec. 3 through Saturday, Dec. 5. Following that meet, the team will have over a month off before hosting Utah in a dual meet at Osborn at 5 p.m. PT on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016.