University of Houston
SMU
Swimming and Diving Battles Against National-Power SMU
10/22/2010 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Oct. 22, 2010
DALLAS - The University of Houston swimming and diving team collected four event wins against defending Conference USA Champion SMU, but fell to the Mustangs in the season opener, 122-172.
Junior Beccy Hillis led the Cougars on Friday night with wins in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke while senior Lacey Truelove set a new personal best in her 3-meter diving victory.
The meet opened with one of the more dramatic races between the two. As head coach Mark Taylor predicted, the relay events were as exciting as advertised. The teams didn't disappoint as the Mustangs avenged their loss to the Cougars in last year's 400-yard medley relay by less than three seconds. Sophomore Reka Kovacs, Hillis, senior Andrea Kells and junior Kim Eeson teamed up to post the time of 3:54.23 to finish second.
"The relays were so much closer than they've been in the past," Taylor said. "I'm so proud of how we performed against a nationally-ranked team. Our girls performed really well today, especially with it being our first meet of the season."
Freshman Marissa Blumenthal and sophomore Holli Pisarski, junior Natalie Newcomb and sophomore Moira Fraser took third with a time of 4:08.19. Rounding out the race for the Cougars were sophomore Kimmy Ballo and freshmen Lauren Spano, Colleen Donovan and Krystan Morrell in fourth.
Freshmen Laykin Lowry and Heather Winn showed off their stamina in the 1,000-yard freestyle, placing second and fourth, respectively. Lowry posted a time of 10:24.97, which would have ranked as the second-fastest time on last season's composite times. Winn finished at 10:42.47 while Emma Nelson took fifth (11:04.47).
"If it had been another 100 0r 200 yards, I think our girls might have caught her (winner Alice McCall). She had a big lead and our girls fought hard and closed in on her."
In the 200-yard freestyle, Eeson was just three seconds shy of her personal record as she took second (1:51.90). Donovan followed close behind in fifth (1:59.97). In the next event, Ballo swam the best 100-yard backstroke time of the year for her team to place second (1:00.67). Blumenthal clocked in at 1:01.35 to take fourth.
Hillis notched the Cougars' first win of the night in the 100-yard backstroke with a 1:06.14 while Pisarski trailed her slightly in third place. Spano finished just six seconds behind Hillis to claim sixth.
Kovacs set a new personal record in the 200-yard butterfly when she finished second (2:04.99), beating last season's C-USA Swimmer of the Year Therese Svendsen in the process. Lowry and Newcomb finished fifth and sixth in the event, respectively.
"I'm over the moon with how our team performed today," Taylor said. "I'm so excited, it was really a great meet. We had a couple of first-place wins, but we were really able to fight our way to the middle of the pack and show our tenacity. We're fight for first, second and third places now."
Fraser, Morrell and Kells took fourth, fifth and sixth in the quick 50-yard freestyle while Eeson came in less than a second short in the next event. The junior posted a second-place finish in the 100-yard freestyle with a 52.16. Winn and Morrell posted 56.53 and 57.15 times, respectively.
Kovacs and Ballo finished back-to-back in the 200-yard backstroke at third and fourth place as Blumenthal took sixth.
Hillis notched her second win of the night in the next event. The junior swam the 200-yard breaststroke in 2:20.81 for the victory. Pisarski and Sanchez claimed third and fourth place with times of 2:31.10 and 2:32.80, respectively.
Lowry showed her endurance skills again in the 500-yard freestyle, taking second with a time of 5:06.30. Had she swam the event a year ago, she would've set the fourth best UH time of the year. Winn took third less than a second behind her fellow freshman while Nelson placed fifth.
Kells, Fraser and Donovan locked down fourth, fifth and sixth in the 100-yard butterfly before the divers took the pool.
Truelove capitalized, notching the Cougars' third victory with her personal best score of 321.15 in the 3-meter event. Sophomore Julia Lonnegren took third with a 270.31. Earlier in the evening, Lonnengren nabbed a second-place finish (288.00) while Truelove took third (270.82) in the 1-meter competition.
Kovacs logged another second-place mark in the 400-yard IM (4:24.29) before the teams concluded the night with the thrilling 200-yard freestyle relay.
Eeson, Kells, Fraser and Donovan won the final event of the night by nearly five seconds (1:40.74). Morrell, Blumenthal, Ballo and Spano took second (1:45.00) while Pisarski, Winn, Lowry and Nelson rounded out the event in third (1:45.19).
"I couldn't be happier," Taylor said. "We have such a young team that if we're fighting this hard now that I know the sky's the limit for this team."
The Cougars hit the road again on Tuesday when they travel to College Station to face Texas A&M. The dual is scheduled to start at 6 p.m.
Players Mentioned
