University of Houston Athletics
University of Houston
NCAA Championships
Almazan Finishes Seventh on 3-Meter Board at NCAA Championships
3/18/2005 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
March 18, 2005
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Junior captain Azul Almazan earned 500.35 points in the final to finish seventh on the 3-meter springboard Friday during the second day of the NCAA Championships at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center on the campus of Purdue University.
With her performance, Almazan received All-America honors for the third consecutive season and the fourth time overall in her distinguished career.
With Almazan's performance, Houston stood in 28th place overall with 12 points in the team standings through Friday night. Georgia stood atop the team leaderboard with 422.5 points, while Auburn was a distant second with 329 points.
Sophomore Anna Kiess finished in 35th place with 235.65 points, while sophomore Rachel Gitelson recorded 217.80 points to finish 37th.
USC's Blythe Hartley won the 3-meter championship with 586.15 points, while Iowa's Nancilea Underwood was the runner-up.
All three Cougar divers will wrap up their stay at the 2005 NCAA Championships when they compete on the platform Saturday. The preliminaries are slated to start at 11 a.m., while the finals will begin around 7 p.m.
Almazan, Kiess and Gitelson are the 17th, 18th and 19th Cougar divers during the last 15 seasons to compete at the nation's top collegiate meet. Almazan won the 3-meter competition and Gitelson claimed top honors on the platform at last weekend's Zone D Diving Championships to earn their place at the NCAA Championships.
Although she did not win any individual events at the Zone meet, Kiess established herself as one of the most consistent performers at that meet by finishing among the Top Three individual leaders on both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard.
Players Mentioned
