University of Houston Athletics
Swimming and Diving to Face Tough Weekend in Arkansas
1/20/2011 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Jan. 20, 2011
HOUSTON - The University of Houston swimming and diving team will travel to Arkansas for back-to-back matchups against No. 19 Arkansas and Arkansas-Little Rock beginning Friday.
After kicking off their spring schedule with a dual meet victory against North Texas last Saturday, the Cougars (3-3) will push themselves with an intense stretch of upcoming competition beginning with nationally ranked Arkansas (7-2, 2-1 SEC) Friday evening.
"It's going to be an extremely difficult meet," head coach Mark Taylor said. "They are a nationally ranked SEC power. This will be a tough test for us in Fayetteville. They have a very tough squad and their athletes are always very well prepared."
LAST TIME OUT
Houston notched two dual wins against nationally ranked Division II schools during their training camp in Hawaii and returned home to notch another victory against North Texas on Jan. 15, 171-129.
The Cougars stormed out to win the first six events of the meet against UNT and 14 of the 16 events on the day. Sophomore Reka Kovacs led the Cougars with three individual victories, while freshman Laykin Lowry, and juniors Kim Eeson and Beccy Hillis each tallied a pair of wins against the Mean Green.
Sophomore diver Julia Lonnegren earned Conference USA Diver of the Week honors after her performance on Saturday. She collected a first place finish in the 1-meter event (327.91) and set a personal best en route to a second-place finish in the 3-meter (326.55). Fellow diver and senior All-American Lacey Truelove took first place in the 3-meter (334.95) and set a personal best of her own in the 1-meter competition (296.10) to finish in second.
ABOUT ARKANSAS
Arkansas is coming off a win at Kansas on Jan 13. Junior Jillienne Schilling set her first pool record at Kansas' Robinson Center with her first-place finish in the 400 IM (4:22.73). Freshman diver Kesha Naylor took the 1-meter and 3-meter events to lead the UA divers.
Although Arkansas leads the all-time series, 10-4, the Cougars have won in the pair's last two meetings. Friday marks the schools' first meeting since the 2005-06 season.
The meet is slated for a 6 p.m. start on Friday at the Arkansas Natatorium.
ABOUT UALR
On Saturday, the Cougars head over to Little Rock for Houston's first-ever meeting against the University of Arkansas-Little Rock.
UALR (3-1) enters the meet after finishing fourth at the Washington University Invitational Jan. 14-15. Sophomore Amber Kelly led the Trojans with wins in the 100-yard (59.57) and 200-yard (2:13.12) butterfly events. Freshman Holly Myers also notched a win for the Trojans in the 200-yard backstroke (2:09.78).
The Trojans do not have a diving team.
"Since we haven't faced them before, we're going in with high expectations," Taylor said. "We're setting our goals and expectations high for this meet."
The Cougars are set to face UALR at 11:30 a.m. Saturday morning at the Donaghey Center Natatorium.
Players Mentioned
