University of Houston Athletics
University of Houston
Day 2
Herbst and Shedd Capture Conference Championships
2/18/2016 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
HOUSTON - Hannah Herbst and Danielle Shedd were crowned individual conference champions Thursday evening on the second day of the American Athletic Conference Championships at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center.
After two days of competition, Houston is fourth overall with a score of 226. SMU leads the way in first with a score of 263. UConn is in second with a score of 245 while Tulane is in third at 226.5.
"It was a special night for our program," said head swimming and diving coach Ryan Wochomurka. "Of the four individual events contested The University of Houston won two of them."
Herbst started the night for the Cougars with a bang, collecting the Houston swimming program's first individual conference championship since Beccy Hillis and Reka Kovacs at the 2010 Conference USA Championships. The Scottsdale, Ariz. native dropped 5.96 seconds off her prelims time, touching the wall at 4:49.08, a personal best. The freshman now holds the fourth best time in school history.
Shedd captured her second consecutive 1-meter diving title. The senior's best dive came in her final trip to the boards, the back 1 ½ somersault 1 ½ twist free, with a score of 52.50. Tonight's finish is the Converse, Texas native's second podium finish of the 2016 conference meet. During preliminaries Micaela Bouter placed first setting a meet record with a score of 309.80, a 23.20 difference between first and second place.
"Danielle had a 'senior performance' on 1-meter," Wochomurka said. "Hannah Herbst became the first conference champion on the swimming side this program has had in six years. Those are the kind of inspired efforts we need as we strive to build a winning culture."
Also in Heat A of the 500-yard freestyle, fellow freshman Delia Weber placed fifth overall, with a time of 4:54.50 dropping 1.93 seconds off her preliminary time. Junior Rachel Hobbins placed eighth in Heat B, with a time of 5:00.02.
Caitlin Horner placed eighth overall in the 50-yard freestyle, touching the wall at 23.50. The sophomore set a personal best in prelims with a time of 23.35, tying the fifth best time in program history with Kim Eeson. Senior Taylor Derevyanik swam the event in a time of 23.73 to place 15th overall. The Southlake, Texas native set a personal best in preliminaries with a time of 23.69.
The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Derevyanik, Horner, Doroteja Bednjanec and Michaela Hamrick placed fifth overall. The Houston team set a season best time of 1:33.14, which ties the relay team with the third best time in program history.
"We have great momentum heading into tomorrow," said Wochomurka. "We need to capitalize on that in the morning."
Hannah Herbst became @uhcougarswim's first swimming champion since 2010
We caught up with her after her win! https://t.co/CAKYvs0BQk- American Swimming (@American_Swim) February 19, 2016
POINT EARNERS
OVERALL
1SMU - 263
2. UConn - 245
3. Tulane - 226.5
4. Houston - 226
5. Cincinnati - 200
6. ECU - 182.5
1-Meter
1.Danielle Shedd - 302.00 [20]
5. Taylor Olanski - 278.70 [14]
7. Micaela Bouter - 255.80 [12]
500 Freestyle
1.Hannah Herbst - 4:49.08 [20]^
5. Delia Weber - 4:54.50 [14]
15. Rachel Hobbins - 5:00.02 [2]
50 Freestyle
8. Caitlin Horner - 23.50 [11]
15. Taylor Derevyanik- 23.73 [2]
200 Freestyle Relay
5. Houston - 1:33.14 [28]*
Taylor Derevyanik, Caitlin Horner, Doroteja Bednjanec, Michaela Hamrick
Personal Best -^
Season Best -*
UP NEXT
The American Championships continue tomorrow with six more events. Swimming preliminaries begin at 10 am, followed by diving at 12:30 pm. The finals session starts at 6 pm. A complete schedule and links to live video streaming can be found at The American's Championships Central Page.
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. Following the conference meet, the Cougars will look to close the season at the NCAA Championships, to be held March 17-19 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
