Houston Widens Lead on Third Day of Championships

3/1/2019 10:20:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

Cougars lead all women's teams with 624 points

INDIANAPOLIS – The University of Houston Swimming & Diving team continued to build on its lead in the third day of action at the 2019 American Athletic Conference Championships, closing out the evening session with two individual championships and its fourth relay win.

"It was an exciting day for us," said Head Coach Ryan Wochomurka. "The divers really got us going early, putting three in the championship final. At night, for them to finish how they did is fantastic. I'm really proud of Coach Bob's kids. What they were able to do for us today is phenomenal. Zarena winning the 200 Freestyle for the second year in a row. Laura Laderoute winning in the 100 Backstroke. Our (swimmers in the Individual Medley) were fantastic, again they continue to be fantastic. Gaby had a phenomenal double from the 400 IM, getting on the podium and turning around an hour later and getting on the podium in the 100 Breaststroke. Peyton Kondis had a phenomenal swim in the 100 Breaststroke."

"There we so many good things, it is hard to encapsulate it all. To cap it all with a school record in the relay, coming from behind to win for the second year in a row in dramatic fashion was certainly exciting. To be four-for-four in relays at this point of the meet is fantastic. We'll see if we can make it a clean sweep tomorrow. I'm excited for tomorrow and ready for it to get here so we can execute some good races in the morning to set ourselves up for finals, and then hopefully a big jump in the pool as a team tomorrow night."

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Cougars got going early, sending five swimmers to the finals of the 400 Individual Medley.
Eleanna Koutsouveli, Gaby Jimenez, Morgan Rosas, Rebecca Brandt and Haley Benjamin all swam in the finals of the event where Jimenez would led Houston with a second-place finish at 4:17.56, setting a new lifetime best and posting the fourth-best time in program history.
Koutsouveli finished fourth-place at 4:19.16, posting her fourth top-four finish in the event for her career. Rosas turned in an eighth-place finish (4:25.20), followed by Brandt in ninth-place (4:23.62) and Benjamin in 11^th-place (4:26.10).
In the 100 Butterfly both Katie Higgins and Brandt advanced to the finals of the event after finishing in fifth and sixth-place in the prelims, respectively.
Higgins led the Cougars with a fifth-place finish in the finals at 54.54, followed by Brandt in sixth-place at 54.96.
For the second year in a row the Cougars took gold in the 200 Freestyle. Brown claimed gold in the event for the second consecutive year, posting a time of 1:45.50. Mykenzie Leehy finished in second-place at 1:47.13, followed by Samantha Medlin in seventh-place at 1:49.48. With the win, Brown is one of two swimmers in The American to win the title twice.
In the 100 Breaststroke three one hundredths of a second separated first and second-place. Two-time Champion Peyton Kondis notched a second-place finish in the event with a time of 59.84, followed by Jimenez in third-place with a lifetime best time of 1:00.83. Angeliki Mavrantza turned in a fourth-place finish at 1:01.03.
Laura Laderoute became the second Cougar in three years to win the 100 Backstroke after leading the field with a finishing time of 53.21. Ioanna Sacha turned in a fourth-place finish at 54.62, followed by Katie Power in fifth-place (54.87) and Monique Rae in 11^th-place (55.71).
In the final swimming event of the day Houston picked up its fourth relay victory, posting a program-best time of 3:34.65 in the 400 Medley Relay. Laderoute, Kondis, Higgins and Brown combined for the time that was just shy of the NCAA B-Cut standard after coming from behind to win the event.
On the boards, three Cougars advanced to the finals of the 3-Meter. Katie Deininger, Lauren Burrell and Makayla Wallar advanced to the final where two Cougars posted top-three finishes. Defending champion Burrell closed out the event in second-place with 309.05 points, and Deininger notched a third-place finish with 293.80 points. Wallar closed out the event in eighth-place with 264.30 points.
Burrell's best dives came on her second and fourth attempts when the junior notched 54.60 points off of a Forward 3 ½ Somersault Tuck and a Reverse 2 ½ Somersault tuck.

UP NEXT
Houston will head into its final day of meet action at the 2019 American Athletic Conference Championships with prelims beginning at 10 a.m. ET tomorrow at IUPUI Natatorium. Ticket for all sessions are on sale and can be purchased here.

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