University of Houston Athletics
University of Houston
<B>C-USA CHAMPIONSHIP</B>
Swimming & Diving Remains in Second at C-USA Championship
2/24/2006 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Feb. 24, 2006
HOUSTON - After the third day of competition at the 2006 C-USA Women's Swimming & Diving and Men's Invitational, the SMU women's team is on pace to capture its first Conference USA Championship title as the Mustangs are nearly 200 points ahead of all competition. Houston holds a score of 374 entering the final day of competition. SMU resumes the lead for the Men's Invitational, tallying 684 points through Friday's competition.
On the women's side, Houston is in second (374), while Rice (372.5), East Carolina (362), Tulane (284.5) and Marshall (164) follow. On the men's side, the East Carolina Pirates are second (561) as the University of Hawai'i (364) is third.
The Mustangs, who captured two of the three top individual titles in all events of competition the first two days, started the day strong winning both the men's and women's 200-yard medley relay titles. The team of Leane Darling (23.09), Laura Pomeroy (22.19), Petra Klosova (22.30) and Candace Blackman (22.65) finished nearly two seconds before Rice's women. The men's foursome, consisting of Luka Vrtovec, Justin Stephenson, Per Nylin and Emilio Garmendia, touched in 1:18.86. Both winning crews set new C-USA meet records.
In the third event held at Houston's Campus Recreation & Wellness Center Natatorium, Cougar rookie Tania Cagnotto defended her home territory with the top place of the women's 1-meter springboard. Cagnotto, who tallied 344.65 points, lead three UH divers to a sweep of the 1-meter medals. Houston's Anastasia Pozdniakova and Anna Kiess followed in second and third, respectively.
Both men's and women's 400-yard individual medley relays etched their names in the C-USA record books tonight. Andrea Pa'lmai of Houston posted a time of 4:22.11 en route to adding 20 points for the Cougars. The mark was an NCAA B Qualifying time. SMU's junior Ian Clark defeated teammate Justin Smith (4:53.93) for the top time of 3:48.73 in the men's 400-yard IM. Both times were NCAA B Qualifying times.
SMU's Petra Klosova just barely missed the meet record time of 54.41 as the freshman came in at 54.42. Marshall senior Milla Kuurto finished second with a time of 55.13, while Houston's Lauren VanCleave touched in 55.17. On the men's side, Greg Wilson of Hawai'i earned the 100-yard fly C-USA title with a time of 48.26.
Philip Griffin of SMU won his first C-USA title on the 3-meter springboard with a score of 379.80. Hawaii's Mats Wiktorsson followed in second (370.45), while ECU's Peter Bradyhouse placed third (242.70).
The twin sister duo of SMU, Candace and Jennifer Blackman, claimed the top two medals of the 200-yard freestyle event. Candace recorded an NCAA A Qualifying time with a touch of 1:46.88. The time also set a new Conference USA meet and CRWC pool record. Jennifer shared the silver medal with teammate Celina Lemmen as both finished with a time of 1:47.84.
In the men's 200-yard freestyle, Hawaii's Graeme Tozer defeated all other swimmers with his NCAA B Qualifying time of 1:37.94. Tozer's mark set a new meet record, passing TCU's Yousif Del Valle, who set the previous record of 1:38.45 at last year's C-USA championship.
In the women's 100-yard breaststroke, SMU's Tamara Sambrailo took home her first C-USA meet title with a 1:01.84 finish. In similar fashion, Per Nylin added 20 points for the Ponies, capturing a record-setting 53.08 NCAA A Qualifying time in the men's 100-yard breaststroke.
In the final swimming events of the day, Mustang sophomore Roxane Akradi set a pool and meet record in the women's 100-yard backstroke with a time of 55.44. Rice's Amy Halsey and East Carolina's Alli Miller came in second and third with times of 56.12 and 57.15, respectively. Thomas Winkler of the Rainbow Warriors earned first on the men's side with a time of 47.71, a championship meet and UH pool record.
The final day of the 2006 C-USA Women's Swimming and Diving Championship and Men's Invitational begins on Saturday with the prelims at 10 a.m. (CST).
The final day will start with the 200-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly and 1,650-yard freestyle event. The preliminaries of the men's and women's platform diving is slated to begin at 1 p.m., while the finals will resume at 6 p.m., followed by the closing 2006 C-USA Championship awards ceremony.
