University of Houston Athletics
Swimming and Diving to Host 2006 Conference USA Championship Meet
2/20/2006 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Feb. 20, 2006
HOUSTON - Some of the nation's finest collegiate swimmers and divers will converge in Houston starting Wednesday to take part in the 2006 Conference USA Women's Swimming and Diving Championship and Men's Invitational.
The four-day meet runs from Wednesday through Saturday at UH's own Campus Recreation & Wellness Center Natatorium. This marks the third consecutive season that the Cougars have hosted this meet, making UH the only school to host the meet at an on-site campus facility.
The meet begins at 1 p.m., Wednesday with the 1-meter men's diving preliminaries. The finals for the 200-yard medley relay, men's 1-meter diving and 800-yard freestyle relay begin at 6 p.m.
The meet kicks into high gear on Thursday. Preliminaries for the swimming schedule begins at 10 a.m. each day with the preliminaries for diving starting around 1 p.m. The finals for each day's swimming and diving events begin at 6 p.m.
For more information about the meet and all the competing teams, fans can click on the C-USA Swimming and Diving logo at www.UHCougars.com.
Fans can be adult all-session tickets for $25 with student (with IDs) selling for only $10. Fans can buy adult day tickets for $10 and student (with IDs) tickets for only $5. Tickets will be sold an hour before the meet with gates opening at that time.
On the women's side, Tulane returns as the defending league champions after winning the title by fewer than 10 points a year ago. Houston and East Carolina also return for the meet with C-USA newcomers Marshall, Rice and SMU competing for the first time.
UH's Szintia Szanto returns for her junior season after winning the 200-yard individual medley a year ago. It was the first individual swimming C-USA championship by any Cougar.
Szanto also has saved her best performances for last. In the swimming team's regular-season finale against Tulane, she set new school records in both the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke events on the way to being named C-USA Swimmer of the Week.
While she will be competing in her first C-USA meet, freshman Andrea Pa'lmai should be a contender in several events. This season, the Budapest, Hungary, native set a new UH record in the 400-yard individual medley and provisionally qualified for the 2006 NCAA Championships in that event and the 1,650-yard freestyle.
On the diving side, junior Anna Kiess returns as the defending C-USA 1-meter champion. The Hannover, Germany, native continued her winning ways in the NCAA postseason where she finished as the NCAA national runner-up on the platform.
The Cougar divers will be looking to continue their dominance of the postseason awards. Diving head coach Jane Figueiredo has won each of the four previous C-USA Diving Coach of the Year awards, while her divers have won all but one of the other awards, which includes Diver of the Year, Diver of the Meet and Freshman Diver of the Year.
East Carolina finished third in the men's competition a year ago with SMU and Hawai'i also slated to compete.
Players Mentioned
