Cougars Win Three Events, Set Two Program Records on Day One of Phill Hansel Invitational

HOUSTON – The RV University of Houston Swimming & Diving team won three events and set two program records on the opening day of action at the Phill Hansel Invitational on Wednesday at the CRWC Natatorium.

Houston closed out the day in first with 416 points, sitting 128 points ahead of second-place Rice (288 points) heading into the second day of competition. Nevada rounds out the top three (268 points), followed by FGCU (fourth, 229 points), New Mexico State (fifth, 205 points), San Jose State (sixth, 161 points), New Mexico (seventh, 143 points) and Air Force (eighth, 140 points).

The 400-yard medley relay was the highlight of the evening as freshman Lottie Cullen, senior Henrietta Fangli, junior Noor El Gendy and junior Liya Goupil set a program record in the event with a mark of 3:33.10. Cullen lowered her 100-yard backstroke school record with a 51.95 as the leadoff swimmer in the race.

Sophomore Evelyn Entrekin won the first event of the evening for the Cougars with the fifth-fastest time in program history at 1:59.97 in the 200-yard IM. Sophomore Nora Hetyei followed in second to improve her time for the eighth fastest time in program history at 2:00.73. Junior Virag Peter finished in fifth place (2:01.59) while El Gendy completed the race eighth overall (2:03.69).

Cullen grabbed the top spot in the 200 IM B-final and tied for the 10^th fastest time in program history at 2:01.62, continuing to make her mark on the Houston record books as a freshman. She now has an individual record (100-yard backstroke), a relay record and two Houston Top 10 times (200 IM, 200-yard backstroke). Junior Jenna Kerkman (10^th, 2:02.73), freshman Regina Torres (14^th, 2:03.50), Abbie Alvarez (19^th, 2:05.32) and freshman Kristina DiPietro (23^rd, 2:05.69) also contributed to Houston's points haul in the event.

Houston swept the 500-yard freestyle B-final with freshman Kaeli White taking the top spot (ninth, 4:57.67), followed by sophomore Sydney Nethercutt (10^th, 4:55.21), sophomore Elizabeth Jimenez (11^th, 4:56.54), senior Mary Catherine Jurica (12^th, 4:54.54) and freshman Sienna Bruner (15^th, 4:58.20).

The Cougars continued to rack up valuable points as freshman Mariana Cote (17^th, 4:59.33), junior Landry Hadder (18^th, 4:59.03) and sophomore Megan Unruh (19^th, 4:58.93) finished in the top three spots of the 500-yard C-final.

In the 50-yard freestyle A-final, Goupil finished fourth with her time of 23.13. Kerkman (18^th, 23.70) and Jurica (21^st, 23.74) competed in the C-final.

Houston swept the 1-meter diving competition as sophomore Michelle McLeod won the event with a final score of 324.85. She was followed by fifth-year Hedda Grelz (307.10) in second and fifth-year Emilia Waters (306.80) in third place. Freshman Caroline Roelen earned her first career NCAA Zone Cut with a score of 285.20 for a fourth-place finish. Senior Josie Graves added points for Houston in the consolation final, claiming 11th with a score of 249.75.

THURSDAY SCHEDULE
Events: 200 Medley Relay, 100 Butterfly, 400 IM, 200 Free, 100 Breaststroke, 100 Backstroke, 800 Free Relay, 3-meter diving

Bold events will have preliminary heats earlier in the day. For swimming, there will be five final heats for each event. Diving will have championship finals for the top eight from preliminaries, with the following eight competing in the consolation finals.

Swimming prelims start at 10 a.m., followed by diving prelims immediately afterward. Diving consolation finals begin right after prelims conclude. Final heats start at 5 p.m., and diving finals will begin during the break before the final relay of the day.

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