Back-to-Back-to Back! Cougars Win Third Conference Title

INDIANAPOLIS – The University of Houston Swimming & Diving team became the first team in conference history to win three consecutive conference titles after accumulating 916 points, winning seven individual championships, and sweeping the relays in the four-day meet at the IUPUI Natatorium.

Fourth-year Head Coach Ryan Wochomurka capped off the championships with his third consecutive American Athletic Conference Women's Coach of the Year honor and now is tied with former Houston Head Coach Phill Hansel for conference coach of the year awards. Freshman diver Katie Deininger not only took home a gold medal in the Platform, but was also named the 2019 Freshman of the Year. Deininger is the second freshman in program history to win newcomer of the year honors.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Cougars entered the final day of action with a 206 point lead over Cincinnati, immediately setting the tone after taking first, second, and third in the prelims of the 200 Backstroke.
Laura Laderoute continued to have a stellar weekend taking top first in the prelims at 1:57.43, followed by Eleanna Koutsouveli in second (1:57.57) and Monique Rae in third (1:58.05). Ioanna Sacha took the last spot in the championship final, finishing at 2:00.02, followed by Reese Lamph in 11^th-place at 2:01.24.
In the finals, Houston would again sweep the podium with Rae taking first-place at 1:55.64, Koutsouveli at 1:56.30, and Laderoute at 1:57.49. Both Rae and Koutsouveli would earn NCAA B-Cut times.
With two individual championships in hand, Zarena Brown led the Cougars in the 100 Freestyle with a first-place finish in the prelims, followed by Mykenzie Leehy in second-place and Kathryn Power clinching the final spot in the A-Final in eighth-place.
In the final, Brown posted a program-best time of 48,76 to take first-place in the event for the second year in a row, followed by Mykenzie Leehy in second-place with the second-best time in school history at 49.03. Power closed out the race in seventh-place with a personal-best time of 50.64.
In the 200 Breaststroke Peyton Kondis, Angeliki Mavrantza and Gaby Jimenez all advanced to the final of the event where Kondis turned in a second-place finish at 2:10.64, the second-best time in program history. Jimenez finished in fourth-place (2:12.22), followed by Mavrantza in fifth-place (2:13.19).
In the 200 Butterfly Houston Rebecca Brandt and Morgan Rosas would advance to the final where Brandt would earn a podium finish with a lifetime best and NCAA B-Cut time of 1:59.00. Rosas would close the event in ninth-place at 2:00.84 for a lifetime best as well.
Haley Benjamin and Reese Lamph shined for the Cougars in the mile, taking seventh-place (16:50,69) and eighth-place (16:51.41), respectively.
In the final event of the meet Brown, Leehy, Ldderoute and Power would combined for the fastest time in program history at 3:18.29 to become only the second team in American Athletic Conference history to sweep the relay events at the conference meet since 2016.
On the boards, Katie Deininger would close out the prelims of the platform in first-place with a field-leading 231.55 points. Deininger would become the first Cougar to take home gold in the platform since Taylor Olanski accomplished the feat in 2016. The freshman finished with 268.25 points.
Brown's seven medals best her six medal count from last season, after taking home three individual titles and assisting on three relay titles at the meet in 2018.
Houston outscored second-place finisher, Cincinnati by 311.50 points and picked up a staggering, 24 podium finishes.

UP NEXT
Houston will turn its focus on the 2019 NCAA Championships that will take place in Austin, Texas on March 20-23.

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