University of Houston
C-USA CHAMPIONSHIPS
Swimming & Diving Finishes Third at Conference USA Meet
2/28/2004 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Feb. 28, 2004
HOUSTON - With another solid performance from the diving squad, the University of Houston swimming and diving team earned its best finish ever at the Conference USA Swimming and Diving championship with a third-place showing Saturday at the Campus Recreation & Wellness Center Natatorium.
The Cougars placed the top four performers in Saturday's platform competition with freshman Anna Kiess taking top honors with 514.70 points. The Berlin, Germany, native joined Cougar teammate Azul Almazan as the only performers to top the 500-point plateau in the finals.
Freshman Rachel Gitelson and sophomore Stephanie Mannella finished 3-4 in the final diving event of the season.
With such another dominating performance, the Cougars swept the postseason diving honors for the third consecutive season. Almazan was honored as the Diver of the Meet, while Kiess was recognized as the Freshman Diver of the Year. Jane Figueiredo was named Women's Diving Coach of the Year.
With 538 points, the Cougars finished third after placing fourth in each of the previous two league meets. TCU captured the women's championship with 772 points with East Carolina in second place with 578 points. Cincinnati (520), Tulane (486), Louisville (347) and Saint Louis (292) rounded out the women's field.
Freshman Szintia Szanto earned the Cougars' best swimming finish of the day with a fourth-place showing in the 200-yard butterfly at 2:04.24. Senior Lucile Turpin equaled that placing in the 1,650-yard freestyle with a time of 17:17.65.
In the women's swimming honors, Tulane's Linda McEachrane was named Freshman Swimmer of the Year, and TCU's Richard Sybesma was named Women's Swimming Coach of the Year.
TCU won the men's championship with 896 points with East Carolina (711), Louisville (648.50), Cincinnati (494.50) and Saint Louis (375) rounding out the field.
On the men's side, TCU's Craig Chapman was named Swimmer of the Meet, and Louisville's Sean Wilkinson was named Diver of the Meet.
Players Mentioned
