Nov. 21, 2006

IRVING, Texas - East Carolina, Houston, Marshall, Rice and SMU all participated in swimming and diving invitationals last weekend. The Pirates Participated in the prestigious Nike Cup and claimed seventh place, while Marshall took second at the Western Kentucky Invitational. Rice had a strong showing at the Indiana Invitational, but the event kept no team scores. Both Houston and SMU competed in the Art Adamson Invitational hosted by Texas A&M. The Mustangs took second place and the Cougars came in seventh, with only their divers competiting.

EAST CAROLINA
East Carolina sat in seventh place after the first day of competition at the prestigious Nike Cup. The women's 200-yard freestyle relay team of Rebecca Perry, Amanda Duncan, Katlin Potts and Kate Gordon earned a seventh place finish in the finals. Perry and Gordon also teamed with freshmen Jacquelynn Jones and Rachel Blue to place 11th in the 400-yard medley relay.

Individually, Perry finaled in the in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 23.73 to claim ECU's best individual finish by a swimmer. The highest overall finish of the day belonged to junior diver Christie Icenhower. Icenhower scored a 248.55 on the one-meter board to earn a sixth place finish.

ECU remained in seventh place after the final session of day two Friday. Numerous ECU swimmers reached the finals of their events Friday night. Freshman Jacquelynn Jones recorded a 10th place finish in the 400 IM with a time of 4:28.86.

Two Lady Pirates reached the finals of the 100-yard butterfly with Gordon finishing sixth with time of 56.31 and Duncan finishing ninth with a mark of 56.70.

Freshman Kristian Ramkvist recorded the highest finish by a member of the ECU men's team during the Nike Cup with an eighth place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke (57.89).

The Pirates completed competition on Saturday taking seventh place. Perry made her NCAA 'B' cut in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 50.87. Perry also reached the finals of the 100-yard backstroke where she placed 11th. Her highest finish of the competition was eighth in the 50-yard freestyle.

Gordon recorded her second top 10 finish of the cup by placing seventh in the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:03.54. She also earned a sixth place finish in the 100-yard butterfly on Friday.

HOUSTON
Houston sophomore diver Anastasia Pozdniakova recorded 311.00 points to finish third in the finals of the three-meter springboard during the first day of the Art Adamson Invitational on Friday at the Student Recreation Center Natatorium. Pozdniakova, a native of Elektrostal, Russia, led all divers after the preliminaries earlier in the day, scoring 325.40 points to emerge as the only performer with more than 300 points.

In the evening's finals, though, LSU's Hali Saucier recorded 314.75 to win the event. Michigan's Elise Lee finished second with 321.60 points with Pozdniakova as a close third. Junior transfer Ginni van Katwijk finished fifth in the finals with 277.50 points. Senior captain Rachel Gitelson scored 225.50 points to finish ninth in the preliminaries.

Pozdniakova finished with 311.45 points to win the one-meter springboard competition. Pozdniakova topped all divers with 293.95 points in the preliminaries Saturday afternoon and maintained that high level during the finals later in the evening. Michigan's Elise Lee finished second with 306.00 points in the finals.

Van Katwijk finished sixth with 248.20 points in the finals, while Gitelson placed seventh with 244.35 points. van Katwijk, who transferred to UH from Wyoming, earned a fifth-place finish on the 3-meter board on Friday.

Gitelson scored 235.10 points to finish third on the platform Sunday. Gitelson, who earned All-America honors on the platform as a sophomore in 2005, was the only Cougar to perform in all three events at the Art Adamson Invitational. Earlier at the meet, the Glendale, Ariz., native finished ninth on the 3-meter springboard and seventh on the 1-meter board.

MARSHALL
Michaela Sceli, the Marshall record-holder in both the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke events, was victorious in the 100-yard breaststroke, while finishing second in the 200-yard breaststroke at the Western Kentucky Hilltopper Invitational over the weekend. Sceli, who posted the fastest time in the prelims (1:08.08), won the 100-yard breaststroke by nearly two seconds with a time of 1:06.98. In the 200 breast, Sceli against recorded the fastest prelims time (2:26.43), only to finish second by 16-hundredths of a second (2:26.56). The Herd finished second overall at the WKU Hilltopper Invitational.

RICE
Rice junior distance specialist Brittany Massengale took third place in the 500-yard freestyle and the sophomore sprinting tandem of Carlyann Miller and Diane Gu finished sixth and seventh in the championship final of the 50-freestyle as the Owls' wrapped-up the first of the three days of competition at the Indiana University Swimming Invitational Friday evening in Bloomington, Ind.

There was no team scoring in the meet, but the Owls recorded some of their best individual times this season. Massengale logged her best time of the year, 4:54.54, to take third in the rugged 500 among a field of 44 entrants. Junior Caitlin Warner (Will Rice) improved on her morning preliminaries to finish 13th in the event with a time of 5:02.53.

Miller finished second among 46 entrants in the 200-yard freestyle and the Owls' 800-free relay team was second out of a field of 17 to lead the Rice swimmers on the second day of competition at the Indiana University Invitational. Four other Owls, including three freshmen, reached the consolation finals of individual events.

Miller posted a career-best time of 1:50.73 to notch the Owls' highest individual finish at the three-day meet. She qualified sixth in the morning prelims (1:53.16) then stayed among the top three for the first half of the finals. The standout from Fort Gibson, Okla., raced into second place with the fastest intermediate time on her third 50 and hung on for the last quarter. Louisville's Melanie Greyling, a junior from South Africa, won the race with with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 1:49.45.

Three Rice swimmers posted third place finishes in their respective individual events, including Massengale with an NCAA provisional qualifying time in the mile, as the Owls closed out the final day of competition. Massengale raced to a third place finish among a field of 26 entrants in the mile (1,650-yard freestyle) with season-best time of 16:47.10. She is the first Owl to provisionally qualify for the 2007 NCAA Championships to be held in the spring. The junior from Alma, Ark., and U.S. National team member qualified for the NCAAs in the same event last season with a school record 16:35.73. She led two other Owl distance swimmers who also tallied season-best mile times Sunday. Junior Caitlin Warner finished eighth (17:20.87) while Carey Hain was 18th (17:49.02).

SMU
The No. 7 SMU women's swimming and diving team was in third place after day one of the Art Adamson Invitational hosted by Texas A&M. The Mustangs raced for five season team best times including the initial race of the 200 free relay. Angela San Juan Cisneros, Leane Darling, Petra Klosova and Jennifer Blackman touched the wall for a time of 1:32.51 and a fourth-place finish.

On the three-meter boards, Kristin Schild posted a mark of 259.10 for eighth place in the finals while Mara Morhouse totaled 161.10 in the prelims.

The Mustangs concluded the night posting a season best time in the 400 medley relay as Anja Carman, Jennifer Basel, Justine Clark and Klosova clocked in 3:42.73 for second place.

After day two, SMU remained in third place. With a season best time of 1:41.34, Carman, Tamara Sambrailo, San Juan Cisneros and Klosova finished in second place in the 200 medley relay as Darling, Devan Callaghan, Clark and Michelle Vlasakova placed seventh with a time of 1:44.21.

Clark swam a career best time in the 100 fly with a time of 54.87 for sixth place while San Juan Cisneros placed eighth with a career best time of 55.77. Darling touched the wall for ninth place and a time of 55.39.

Klosova swam a career best time of 1:47.49 in the 200 free for fifth place as J. Blackman placed sixth with a time of 1:48.39.

In three meter diving, Kristin Schild placed eighth with a mark of 259.10 while Mara Morhouse tallied 161.10 in the prelims. Klosova, J. Blackman, Roberts and Lemmen compiled for a season best time of 7:14.64 in the 800 free for second place.

The No.7 Mustangs finished third at the invitational. Every day, the Mustangs watched season and career bests fall and Sunday was no different.

Carman started the night off well for the Mustangs as she took first place in the 1650 free with a time of 16:18.92, touching the wall almost three seconds faster than anyone. Katie Roberts coasted to a sixth place finish with a time of 16:51.30. Carman swam a team season best time of 1:57.57 in the 200 back for second place.

Posting a career best time in the 100 free, Klosova took first place with a time of 48.84. She wasn't the only Mustangs to make career best time as J Blackman finished sixth with a time of 50.33.

Darling, J. Blackman, Vlasakova and Klosova compiled to swim a team season best time of 3:18.36 for second place in the 400 free relay. Lemmen, San Juan Cisneros, Clark and Roberts placed sixth with a time of 3:25.25.