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University of Houston Athletics
Swimming & Diving to Host Red-White Meet on Wednesday
10/5/2004 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Oct. 5, 2004
HOUSTON - The University of Houston swimming and diving program continues toward its season-opening meet when it hosts the annual Red-White meet at 3 p.m., Wednesday in the Campus Recreation & Wellness Center Natatorium on the UH campus.
Like all UH swimming and diving meets, Wednesday's meet is free and open to the public, which is invited to attend.
Under the leadership of head coach Mark Taylor and diving head coach Jane Figueiredo, the Cougars look to do even better in 2004-05. Wednesday's meet will be the first step in that direction.
"The major thing we are hoping to accomplish is just team-building. This gives them a chance to race before the season starts," said Taylor, who begins his third season at the helm of the Cougar Swimming and Diving program. "They have had long weeks of heavy training. We're going to shake the cobwebs off."
In addition, Wednesday's meet gives the Cougars a chance to experience a meet-like environment, and the atmosphere that comes with that.
"This is always a good, motivating thing," Taylor said. "The girls don't get too nasty, but they get motivated to cheer, to be excited and have fun and practice their skills in a competition mode."
The Cougars open their 2004-05 season at 5 p.m., Oct. 15 when they play host to Texas at the CRWC Natatorium. UH continues its season during a busy weekend as it meets crosstown rival Rice at noon, Oct. 16 at the CRWC Natatorium.
Swimming captains Kristin Bay and Meagan Wien divided their group into two groups of eight swimmers each. Divers Azul Almazan and Rachel Gitelson will compete on one team with Anna Kiess and Stephanie Mannella on the other squad. Due to an odd number of divers, freshman Anastasia Pozdniakova also will compete with her scores counting for both teams.
The team has been officially practicing since mid-September but has impressed its coach during that short stint.
"They are really stepping up. We are doing things in practice that we weren't even capable of last year," Taylor said. "They are really motivated and want to reach higher than they have been before. It's really exciting to see them to do things they haven't been able to do before."
A year ago, the Cougars set a new school single-season record with nine dual-meet victories and finished third at the annual Conference USA Championship, the best showing by a UH team since the 1985-86 squad finished third at the Southwest Conference Championship.
The Cougar swimmers will be led by Bay and sophomore Szintia Szanto. In 2003-04, Bay posted the team's nine fastest times in both the 50-yard freestyle and 100-yard backstroke.
In only her first collegiate season, Szanto made an immediate impact as she placed her name among the Cougars' Top 10 fastest swimmers in four different events.
On the diving side, Almazan looks to compete at the NCAA Championships for the third consecutive season. Last year, the Mexico City, Mexico, native was recognized as the C-USA Diver of the Meet and Diver of the Year and placed among the Top eight leaders on both the 3-meter springboard and platform events at the NCAA Championships.
Kiess qualified for the NCAA Championships during her first collegiate season and won the championships on both the platform and the 1-meter springboard at the C-USA Championships. In addition, she was recognized as the C-USA Freshman Diver of the Year.
Players Mentioned
