HOUSTON – After the third day of competition at the 2005 C-USA Women’s Swimming & Diving and Men’s Invitational, the TCU Horned Frogs and Tulane Green Wave women’s teams are tied for first with a score of 484 entering into the final day of competition. Despite the Wave rolling up on TCU, the Frogs are on pace to capturing their second consecutive men’s and women’s championship titles. The TCU men lead with a score of 563.

On the women’s side, East Carolina is in third (356), while Louisville (347), Houston (313), Cincinnati (228) and Saint Louis (167) follow. On the men’s side, the Cardinals are second (541) as East Carolina (442.50) and Cincinnati (377.50) are third and fourth, respectively. Saint Louis rounds out the men’s teams with a score of 221.

The Pirates, who entered in fourth place on the third day of competition held at Houston’s Campus Recreation & Wellness Center Natatorium, started the day strong with a 200-yard women’s medley relay title. The team of EC Moore (28.08), Diane Parker (28.66), Kate Gordon (24.85) and Adrienne Williams (22.88) finished .23 seconds before TCU’s women. Cincinnati’s men immediately grabbed a C-USA Championship meet record in the 200-yard medley relay. Enrique Bayata (23.95), David Gustavsson (25.21), Ryan Yearwood (21.39) and Marcel Kleiner (19.98) won the event with a time of 1:30.53.

Both men’s and women’s 400-yard individual medley relays etched their names in the C-USA record books tonight. Amanda Taylor posted a time of 4:22.79 en route to adding 20 points for the Cardinals. Cincinnati’s Carlo Piccio beat his previous C-USA Championship record of 3:55.42, which was set in Indianapolis on Feb. 24, 2003, with a time of 3:54.93.

In one of the closest events on the day, Cincinnati’s Ann Degenstein came in just shy of ECU’s veteran Diana Parker’s time of 54.58 in the 100-yard butterfly, as the Feb. 1 C-USA Swimmer of the Week posted a time of 54.62. Both women beat the previous meet record originally set by Degenstein last year. On the men’s side, Adam Madarassy of Louisville earned the 100-yard fly C-USA title with a time of 48.05.

The Green Wave freshman Sarah Dicharry claimed her first conference title with a 200-yard freestyle victory (1:50.39). TCU’s Yousif Del Valle defeated current C-USA record holder Casey Cronin, who came in second with a time of 1:8.80. Del Valle posted a 1:38.45 time. Both passed Cronin’s original meet record of 1:39.74 set in last year’s conference championship.

In the women’s 100-yard breaststroke, ECU’s Parker handily took the title with a time of 1:02.91. The senior broke a 14-year old school record in the 200-breaststroke earlier this season. For the second consecutive year, TCU’s Aran Bean captured the 100-yard breaststroke title. His 56.48 time was 1.07 off of his personal-best and C-USA Championship record.

In the final swimming events of the day, TCU swept the boards as Aimee Moreau and Craig Chapman earned firsts en route to helped Frogs to their X lead into finals on Saturday. Moreau, who holds a share of the C-USA meet record (56.88) posted a time of 57.07, while Chapman defended his league crown with a time of 49.25.

In the diving events, Houston’s Anna Kiess claimed her second C-USA crown on the one-meter springboard with a score of 299.15. Louisville’s Marianne Bradford followed in second with 266.20 points, while Cougar Azul Almazan came in third (264.15).

Louisville’s Robbie Lewis won his first C-USA title on the three-meter springboard with a score of 486.60. TCU’s Kelly McCain followed in second (464.05), while ECU’s Ryan Hunt placed third (454.20).

A total of five meet records were broken in the third night of competition. The final day of the 2005 C-USA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship and Men’s Invitational begins on Saturday with the prelims at 10 a.m. (CST). The last day of the four-day event will begin with the 200-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly and 1,650-yard freestyle event. The preliminaries of the men’s and women’s platform diving is slated to start at 1 p.m. The finals will resume at 6 p.m., followed by the closing 2005 C-USA Championship awards ceremony.

C-USA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championship and Men’s Invitational – Day Three Scores
CRWC Natatorium
Houston, Texas

Women’s Team Scores
1. TCU 484
2. Tulane 484
3. East Carolina 356
4. Louisville 347
5. Houston 313
6. Cincinnati 228
7. Saint Louis 167

Men’s Team Scores
1. TCU 563
2. Louisville 541
3. East Carolina 442.50
4. Cincinnati 377.50
5. Saint Louis 221.