Houston Celebrates at End of Season Banquet

HOUSTON – With another banner year in the books for the University of Houston Swimming & Diving program, capturing their fourth consecutive American Athletic Conference title and qualifying seven student-athletes for the NCAA Championships, the Cougars took a look back at their season at a virtual end of season banquet. Multiple Cougars were recognized at the banquet, earning awards.

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR | AUDREY MCKINNON
McKinnon concluded her debut season with a pair of eighth-place finishes at The American Championships in the 100 and 200 Breaststroke, leading the freshman class in points scored at the conference meet.

MOST IMPROVED | ISABEL TANK, CHRYSTEN PACHECO, CHASE FARRIS
The Cougars have seen improvements across the board during the 2019-20 season, but the emergence of Tank, Pacheco and Farris stood out. Tank advanced to a pair of A-Finals at The American Championships and clocked the seventh-fastest time in program history in the 100 Butterfly. Pacheco closed out her freshman season with the sixth-fastest time in program history in the 200 Butterfly. Farris wrapped up her debut season in Houston with a conference title in the Platform, helping the Cougars sweep the diving events at the league championships.

MOST MEMORABLE PERFORMANCE | 200 FREESTYLE FINAL
The Cougars dominated the 2020 American Athletic Conference Championships, but a stellar performance in the 200 Freestyle stood out above the rest. Houston had five swimmers advance to the A-Final of the event and swept the podium, for that Zarena Brown, Mykenzie Leehy, Samantha Medlin, Elizabeth Richardson and Rachel Hicks were recognized.

ACADEMIC AWARD | MAKAYLA WALLAR, RACHEL HICKS, HANNAH ESOPENKO, KALEY HOFFMAN, IOANNA SACHA
Performing well academically is just as important as performing well athletically. The Academic Award is awarded to student-athletes with the five highest cumulative GPA's on the team.

MVP CONFERENCE IMPACT | MYKENZIE LEEHY, PEYTON KONDIS, ZARENA BROWN
Combining for five individual conference titles and 57 points each, the impact of these three student-athletes helped the Cougars capture their fourth conference title.

DIVER OF THE YEAR | LAUREN BURRELL
Burrell showed herself to be the leader of the Houston diving personnel during the 2019-20 season winning both the 1-Meter and 3-Meter titles at The American Championships.

COUGAR SPIRIT | SAMANTHA MEDLIN, HANNAH MIDDLETON
These two student-athletes are there to cheer on their teammates through the highs and lows, earning the Cougar Spirit award.

COUGAR IMPACT | HANNAH SCHMITT
Schmitt has played a pivotal role in the day-to-day operations of the Houston Swimming & Diving program. From team video to team meals, Schmitt's impact is felt throughout the program.

COUGAR RELAY IMPACT AWARD
With the help of Leehy, the Cougars were able to sweep the relays at The American Championships for the second straight year.

UNDERCLASSMEN UNITY | ELIZABETH RICHARDSON
With the help of Richardson, the Cougar underclassmen unified the team and gained valuable experience as the squad looks toward the future.

PERSEVERANCE AWARD | GABY JIMENEZ, KATIE POWER
When adversity called, these two answered and for the Gaby Jimenez and Katie Power are the recipients of the Perseverance Award.

COACHES AWARD | LAURA LADEROUTE
Working tirelessly to help her teammates get better both inside and outside of the pool has earned Laderoute the Coaches Award.

COUGAR LEGACY AWARD | SENIOR CLASS
Things came full circle for the Cougars during the 2019-20 season as the senior class won its fourth straight conference title, completing the goal its set for itself in 2016. Standing head and shoulders above the rest both athletically and academically the senior class helped its team to one its best seasons in recent history, earning the Cougar Legacy Award.

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/UHCougarSwim) and Twitter pages (@UHCougarSwim), which provide regular updates on the team and live results during home meets.

--UHCougars.com--

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Zarena Brown

Rachel Hicks

Gaby Jimenez

Mykenzie Leehy

Samantha Medlin

Elizabeth Richardson

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