University of Houston Athletics
Swimming & Diving to Host C-USA Championship
2/22/2005 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Feb. 22, 2005
HOUSTON - For the second consecutive season, the University of Houston swimming and diving team will play host to some of the nation's finest student-athletes and coaches as it hosts the 2005 Conference USA Women's Swimming and Diving Championship and Men's Invitational.
The meet, which begins Wednesday afternoon, will be held at the Campus Recreation & Wellness Center Natatorium on the UH campus. A year ago, Houston became the first Conference USA school to host the league's annual meet at an on-site facility after the first two championships were conducted in Indianapolis, Ind.
The meet begins at 1 p.m., Wednesday with the preliminaries of the men's 1-meter diving. The finals begin at 6 p.m. with the 200-yard freestyle relay, 1-meter diving and 800-yard freestyle relay.
Swimming action kicks into full gear at 10 a.m., Thursday with the preliminaries for the 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard individual medley and the 50-yard freestyle. The 3-meter women's diving preliminaries will begin around 1 p.m., Thursday with the finals of the 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard individual medley, 50-yard freestyle, women's 3-meter diving and 400-yard medley relay slated to begin at 6 p.m.
Tickets for the meet are still available. Adult all-session tickets can be purchased for $25, while adult single-day tickets are $10. Students who present valid IDs can buy all-session tickets for $10 and single-day tickets for $5.
Tickets will be sold 90 minutes prior to the start of the meet with gates opening an hour before the meet.
In 2004, the Cougars finished third at the meet, the best finish by a UH squad since 1985-86.
At that meet, the Cougar divers dominated the postseason awards for the third consecutive season. Azul Almazan was named the Diver of the Meet, while Anna Kiess was honored as the Freshman Diver of the Year. In addition, diving head coach Jane Figueiredo was named the Diving Coach of the Year.
Almazan, Kiess and Figueiredo as well as diving teammates junior Stephanie Mannella and sophomore Rachel Gitelson will be in action this week.
On the swimming side, senior captain Kristin Bay and sophomore Szintia Szanto should vie for championships. Bay owns the team's two fastest times in the 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke.
Szanto already has recorded some of the school's all-time fastest times in four different events and has tallied the team's four fastest times in the 100- and 200-yard butterfly and 200- and 400-yard individual medley.
Freshman Marit Bloemer, who joined the Cougars at the semester break, already has posted UH season-best times in the 500- and 1,000-yard freestyle events.
Players Mentioned
