University of Houston Athletics
University of Houston
at NCAA Championships
Cagnotto Finishes Eighth on 3-Meter Board at NCAA Championships
3/18/2006 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
March 18, 2006
ATHENS, Ga. - University of Houston Freshman Tania Cagnotto scored 338.45 points in the finals to earn an eighth-place finish during the second day of the 2006 NCAA Championships at Gabrielsen Natatorium inside the Ramsey Center on the UGA campus.
The Bolzano, Italy, native finished seventh in the preliminaries with 316.85 points heading into the finals.
Cagnotto, who finished 11th on the 1-meter springboard on Thursday, earned 11 points for the Cougars on the team leaderboard as well as All-America individual honors for herself, the first of her collegiate career.
Junior Anna Kiess, who finished as the NCAA national runner-up on the platform a year ago, finished 24th with 277.85 points but did not qualify for the final later in the evening.
As a team, the Cougars stood in a tie for 24th place with Arizona State and Rutgers with 17 total points. Host Georgia stood atop the team standings with 339 points, while Auburn was second with 294 points.
USC's Blythe Hartley won her second NCAA individual national championship with 373.15 points to finish less than two points ahead of Indiana's Christina Loukas.
Both divers will wrap up their stay at the nation's top collegiate meet on the platform Saturday. Preliminaries are scheduled to begin at noon (CST). The diving finals will be part of the evening schedule, which will start around 6 p.m. (CST).
Kiess and Cagnotto are two of the 26 divers who are scheduled to compete on the platform on Saturday.
All-session tickets can be bought for $55 with preliminary passes (good for one morning session) selling for $12 and finals passes (good for one evening session) selling for $16,
To order tickets, call the University of Georgia Ticket Office at 877-542-1231.
The Cougar duo earned their places at the nation's top collegiate meet with their performances at the NCAA Zone D meet. Cagnotto won both the 1- and 3-meter springboard events at the NCAA Zone D meet, while Kiess finished second on the 1-meter board and third on the 3-meter event.
Kiess, who is competing in her third consecutive appearance at the NCAA Championships, was a steady performer for the Cougars throughout the 2005-06 regular season. The Berlin, Germany, native twice was named C-USA Diver of the Week and finished second on the platform at the Conference USA Women's Swimming and Diving Championship in late February.
She enters this weekend's meet as the defending NCAA national runner-up on the platform.
Cagnotto is in her first collegiate season but has established herself as one of the program's finest divers. The Bolzano, Italy, native swept all three diving events at the C-USA Championship, joining former Cougar and five-time NCAA individual national champion Yulia Pakhalina as the only divers to accomplish that feat.
She also was a seven-time C-USA Diver of the Week honoree, setting a new UH single-season record in that category.
Both divers who will be joined by diving head coach Jane Figueiredo, who is now in her 16th season at UH. She has guided 21 divers to the NCAA Championships during her career, including seven to 28 All-America honors.
Players Mentioned
