University of Houston Athletics
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Houston Leads Rice, Tulane After Strong Day One
1/29/2016 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
HOUSTON - The University of Houston Swimming and Diving team leads Rice and Tulane after an impressive first day with 13 podium finishes, led by Hannah Herbst and Micaela Bouter who captured individual event championships Friday night at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center.
After day one, Houston leads by a score 115-71 over Tulane, and 127-53 over Rice. The Cougars are trailing LSU by a score of 111-75.
"It was a great performance top to bottom," said head swimming and diving coach Ryan Wochomurka. "This is our senior weekend, we wanted to send out seniors out with a great meet. We talked a lot about this meet being ideal conditions for us. We're at home this time of year, it's almost February, it's time to swim fast. We've got some good teams we're challenging. One conference opponent, one cross-town opponent and one ranked opponent. Conditions are ideal here for us to perform at a high level. We responded well to that challenge."
A freshman, Herbst had a great first day as she won the 1,000-yard freestyle and set a school record. The Scottsdale, Ariz., native, broke the 1,000-yard freestyle record with a time of 9:57.44. The record tops the previous Houston record of 9:59.42 set by Delia Weber earlier this season.
"Anytime you can set a school record it's awesome," Wochomurka said. "Anytime you can set a school record in a dual meet, that's a special swim. It's exciting because Hannah is a freshman, she had a rough couple weeks, performance wise but she's been training at such a high level. This just goes to show when you have been training at such a high level, regardless of performance, good things come."
A sophomore, Bouter continued her impressive performance on the boards Friday evening. The American Athletic Conference Diver of the Week, picked up her third 1-meter victory of the season with a score of 320.65. Senior Danielle Shedd was right behind Bouter in second with a score of 311.50.
The Cougars started the night with a podium finish in the 200-medely relay. The team of Jasmine Williams, Cameron Balkom, Maya Owens and Caitlin Horner placed second overall with a time of 1:43.14.
In the 200-yard butterfly, Owens set a personal best, 55.39, to finish second overall. Teammate Sharo Rodriguez finished in third, swimming the race in a time of 55.53.
Freshman Eleanna Koutsouveli grabbed second in the 100-yard backstroke, as she swam the race in a time of 55.50. Williams set a personal best, the Orange Park, Fla., native finished in a time of 55.86 to place third overall.
The Cougars had two more podium finishes in the 200-yard breaststroke. Sophomore Ashley Grijalva placed second, netting a time of 2:18.05. Balkom placed third after swimming the race in a time of 2:19.11.
In the 200-yard freestyle, Michaela Hamrick was the highest scoring Cougar. The junior set a personal best swimming the race in a time of 1:51.35 to finish fourth overall.
Horner set a personal best in the 50-yard freestyle. The sophomore netted a time of 23.49 to capture second.
In the 200-yard IM, freshman Koutsouveli placed third overall, swimming the race in a time of 2:04.53.
In the final event of the night, the 400-yard freestyle relay, the Houston team of Horner, Doroteja Bednjanec, Julie Gibson and Hamrick placed third overall with a time of 3:27.30.
"We're only half way through, we're still in a tight battle with all three times right now," Wochomurka said. "This is the same challenge that we'll have at the conference meet where you'll have a great evening and you have to get up and go again at prelims the next day. This right now is an emulation of our conference meet schedule that is coming up in three weeks."
Results
OVERALL
Houston 115, Tulane 71
Houston 127, Rice 53
LSU 111, Houston 75
200 Medley Relay
2. Houston -A 1:43.14
Jasmine Williams, Cameron Balkom, Maya Owens, Cait Horner
1000 Free
1. Hannah Herbst - 9:57.44*^
100 Fly
2. Maya Owens - 55.39*
3. Sharo Rodriguez - 55.53
100 Back
2. Eleanna Koutsouveli - 55.50
3. Jasmine Williams - 55.86*
200 Breast
2. Ashley Grijalva - 2:18.05
3. Cameron Balkom - 2:19.11
1-Meter
1. Micaela Bouter - 320.65
2. Danielle Shedd - 311.50
50 Free
2. Cait Horner - 23.49*
200 IM
3. Eleanna Koutsouveli - 2:04.53
400 Free Relay
3. Houston A - 3:27.30
Caitlin Horner, Doroteja Bednjanec, Julie Gibson, Micaela Hamrick
Personal Best - *
School Record - ^
UP NEXT
Houston, LSU, Rice and Tulane conclude the quad meet tomorrow beginning at 10 a.m. with Senior Day Ceremonies taking place before the start of the day. The Cougars will honor their five seniors, swimmers Doroteja Bednjanec, Holly Criscuolo, Taylor Derevyanik, Maya Owens and diver Danielle Shedd.
COUGARS TO HOST AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP
Houston will host the American Athletic Conference Championships for the first time as the best swimmers and divers in the league visit the CRWC from Feb. 17-20, 2016. Following the conference meet, the Cougars will look to close the season at the NCAA Championships, to be held March 17-19, 2016 in Atlanta.
FOLLOW THE COUGARS!
Fans can keep up with the latest in University of Houston Cougar athletics by following us on Facebook (Facebook.com/HoustonAthletics), Twitter (@UHCougars), Instagram (houstoncougars) and YouTube.com (Youtube.com/UHAthletics). In addition, the swimming & diving team has established its own official Facebook (Facebook.com/HoustonCougarSwimmingDiving) and Twitter pages (@UHCougarSwim), which provide regular updates on the team and live results during home meets.
--UHCougars.com--
Players Mentioned
