All Three Cougar Divers Earn All-America Honors as Keiss Took Second on the NCAA Platform

The University of Houston swimming and diving team wrapped up its 2004-2005 season in impressive fashion Saturday as three divers earned All-America honors on the platform at the 2005 NCAA Championships at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center on the campus of Purdue University.

Sophomore Anna Kiess finished the finals with 478.95 points to finish as the national runner-up on the platform. It was her best finish at the NCAA Championships and was her third All-America honor during her young career.

Teammate and junior captain Azul Almazan finished fifth in the finals with 437.40 points, while sophomore Rachel Gitelson earned her first-ever All-America honor by placing 12th with 391.55 points. Almazan recorded her fifth All-America honor during her career and her second at the 2005 NCAA meet.

With their impressive performances, the Cougar divers accumulated 47 total points to lead UH to a 20th-place team finish at the NCAA Championships. It marked the fifth consecutive season that Houston ranked among the Top 25 national team leaders at the country’s top collegiate meet and equaled the best finish by any Cougar team at the NCAA Championships since the 1985-86 team finished 17th nationally.

Georgia won the team championship with 609.5 points to finish more than 110 points ahead of runner-up Auburn. Indiana’s Cassandra Cardinell won the platform championship with 501.45 points.

Almazan, Kiess and Gitelson are the 17th, 18th and 19th Cougar divers during the last 15 seasons to compete at the nation’s top collegiate meet. Almazan won the 3-meter competition and Gitelson claimed top honors on the platform at last weekend’s Zone D Diving Championships to earn their place at the NCAA Championships.

Although she did not win any individual events at the Zone meet, Kiess established herself as one of the most consistent performers at that meet by finishing among the Top Three individual leaders on both the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard.