Swimming & Diving Opens Season Friday at Texas
10/13/2005 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Oct. 13, 2005
HOUSTON - The University of Houston Swimming and Diving program opens its 2005-06 season at 4 p.m., Friday when it faces new Conference USA rival Rice and host Texas in a tri-meet at the Jamail Swimming Center in Austin, Texas.
While this will be the first dual meet of the year for the Cougars, the team enjoyed a competitive setting Wednesday afternoon at the annual Red & White meet at UH's own Campus Recreation & Wellness Center Natatorium.
At that meet, several Cougar freshmen enjoyed successful performances. Andrea Pa'lmai placed first in the 800-yard freestyle, 75-yard backstroke and 300-yard individual medley to help lead the White Team.
New Caney's Lauren VanCleave won the 100-yard individual medley and the 75-yard butterfly as the White Team's only other multi-event winner.
For the Red Team, Sasha Schwendenwein posted victories in the 125-yard freestyle and 350-yard freestyle and was a member of the winning 300-yard freestyle relay.
These newcomers join 11 letterwinners from last year's squad which finished 20th at the NCAA Championships. It was the fifth consecutive season that the Cougars placed among the Top 25 at the nation's top collegiate meet but equaled the team's best finish since the 1986-87 season.
Junior Anna Kiess headlines the divers after finishing as the National Runner-up on the platform at the 2005 NCAA Championships. Fellow junior Rachel Gitelson also returns after earning All-America honors on the platform at the NCAA meet and winning that event at the 2005 NCAA Zone Diving meet.
On the swimming side, junior Szintia Szanto returns after setting a new school record in the 200-yard individual medley. The Budapest, Hungary, native broke a record that stood for nearly two decades and earned the C-USA championship, the first C-USA individual swimming title for any UH student-athlete.
Players Mentioned
