Oct. 17, 2006
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IRVING, Texas - Houston swept the first Conference USA Swimmer and Diver of the Week awards for the 2006-07 season after starting out 4-0 for the first time in school history. East Carolina, Marshall and Rice also opened their seasons with wins.
Houston Senior Szintia Szanto helped the Cougars to the first 4-0 start in program history and won four individual events and was a part of two winning medley relay teams to claim her third career weekly honor. Anna Kiess swept the 3-meter springboard competition in UH's back-to-back tri-meets against New Mexico State and Northern Colorado and also helped the Cougars achieve their perfect start. The award is the seventh of Kiess' career.
Conference USA swimming and diving action began last weekend with East Carolina, Houston, Marshall and Rice all opening their 2006-07 seasons. The Lady Pirates posted a 148-83 win over Davidson on Saturday, while Houston improved to 4-0 in dual meets with two wins over both New Mexico State and Northern Colorado. It is the first time in school history that UH won its first four dual meets to open a season. For only the second time in the program's short five-year history, Marshall began its season with back-to-back wins, sweeping Xavier and West Virginia Wesleyan Friday and Rice rounded out the action with a 161-116 win on the road over the University of Denver also on Friday.
SWIMMER OF THE WEEK (10/17)
SZINTIA SZANTO - Houston
Sr., Budapest, Hungary (Eotvos Jozsef Gimnazium)
Szanto helped lead the Cougars to a 4-0 start for the first time in school history at New Mexico State and against Northern Colorado last weekend. She captured first place in four individual events, including three on Saturday alone, and was a part of two winning medley relay teams. On Friday, the senior won the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:22.96, as she finished nearly seven seconds ahead of her closest competitor in that event. She also finished second in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:05.04 and swam the second leg of the winning 400-yard medley relay team. On Saturday, Szanto won three individual events. The native of Hungary captured first place in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:08.54 and then finished first in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:24.61. Szanto capped her day with a first-place showing in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:03.12, the second-fastest time in UH history and 1.07 seconds behind her own school-record time. To conclude Saturday, she swam the second leg on the winning 200-yard medley relay team. The honor is the third of her career.
DIVER OF THE WEEK (10/17)
ANNA KIESS - Houston
Sr., Hanover, Germany (Coubertin Gymnasium)
Kiess swept the 3-meter springboard competition in back-to-back tri-meets with Northern Colorado and New Mexico State last weekend. She also helped lead the Cougars to a 4-0 start for the first time in school history. Keiss led the Cougars to a sweep of the Top-four places in each diving event. On Friday, the senior won the 3-meter event with 290.00 points and finished second in the 1-meter event with 286.70 points. Saturday Keiss captured first place in the 3-meter event with 298.75 points, while taking third on the 1-meter springboard with 265.25 points. Keiss had now won seven C-USA Diver of the Week awards.
WEEKLY RELEASE
The Conference USA media relations staff will produce a weekly release each Tuesday throughout the season, including Athlete of the Week selections and updated standings. Complete league statistics will be updated daily throughout the season via the conference web site.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Conference USA will name an Swimmer and Diver of the week throughout the regular season. The Athlete of the Week awards are selected by the C-USA media relations department and announced every Tuesday throughout the season.
OTHER NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
(10/9 - 10-16)
REBECCA PERRY - East Carolina
Perry won both of her individual events in season opening meet against Davidson to lead the Lady Pirates to victory. Her 50 free time of 23.50 was a new Minges Aquatic Center record and she touched the wall in 51.48 in the 100 free. She was also a part of the winning 400 free and 200 medley relay teams.
KAYLA TRUSWELL - Marshall
Truswell, the Herd's top butterflier, set a new career-best time in the 200-yard butterfly, finishing first with a time of 2:07.04 in Friday's tri-meet against Xavier and West Virginia Wesleyan. Truswell's previous career-est in the 200-yard butterfly was 2:07.69, which she set last season at the Miami Invitational. She was also a member of the Herd's 200-yard medley relay team, which finished second with a time of 1:52.69.
PAM ZELNICK - Rice
Zelnick, a true freshman, began her collegiate swim career with a bang by posing a pair of individual wins in the Owls' 161-116 dual meet win over the University of Denver on Friday (Feb. 8). Zelnick's time of 1:06.05 in the 100-breaststroke is the best in Conference USA so far this season and it's also the best time in the event at Rice in the last two years. The Ohio native then won the 200-breaststroke with a mark of 2:26.37.
C-USA ACHIEVEMENTS
SMU swimmer Flavia Rigamonti took home the gold metal in the 1650-yard freestyle three of her four attempts, touching in second last year with a time of 15:54.67. The senior's time of 15:46.84 in 2005 set a pool record and came in nearly six seconds ahead of the second place finisher.
Diving Coach Jane Figuieredo has guided 21 Houston divers to the NCAA Championships, including seven to multiple All-America honors. She has twice earned NCAA Diving Coach of the Year accolades (2001 & 2003) and earned her fifth consecutive C-USA Diving Coach of the Year last season.
The Cougar divers have swept the platform awards for four consecutive seasons and the team has never dropped a one-meter or three-meter springboard crown in the C-USA meet.
In 2005, the Green Wave won the C-USA Women's Swimming and Diving Championship, just their second season as a Division I program. However, due to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, the team was forced to evacuate to College Station, Texas, where the team spent the Fall of 2005. Shortly thereafter, the program was suspended. Head coach Daniella Irle earned the 2006 Women's Swimming Coach of the Year honor for the second year in a row, at last year's championship meet, the team's final meet together.
The SMU Mustangs, who have placed in the top 10 at the NCAA Championships 22 times and in the top five 13 times, eight of those coming in consecutive years from 1992-99, finished in seventh place at the 2005 and 2006 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships
Former Houston diver and five-time Olympic medalist Yulia Pakhalina captured five NCAA national championships on the one-meter and three-meter springboard. Pakhalina won three consecutive NCAA crowns (2001-03).
UH divers accumulated 47 total points to lead the Cougars to a 20th-place team finish at the 2005 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's since the 1985-86 team finished 17th nationally
SMU women's swimming and diving head coach Steve Collins was the head coach of the Slovak Olympic Team in Athens, Greece in 2004. Collins' swimmers at SMU have earned medals at the Olympic Games, World Championships, World University Games, European, Mediterranean and African Championships
