University of Houston
Texas A&M
Swimming and Diving Competes at Texas A&M
10/26/2010 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Complete Results | Photo Gallery
Oct. 26, 2010
HOUSTON - The University of Houston swimming and diving team faced its second-ranked opponent in less than a week on Tuesday, falling at Texas A&M, 183-101.
Divers Lacey Truelove and Julia Lonnegren led the way for Houston with a second-place finish each in the 3-meter and 1-meter competitions. Senior Andrea Kells and juniors Kim Eeson and Beccy Hillis posted three of several runner-up finishes on the swimming side as the Cougars collected nine second-place honors and one event win against a tough top-10 Texas A&M team.
"I happen to think they are one of the top three or four teams in the country," head swimming coach Mark Taylor said. "They are unbelievably talented. It's hard to go up against a team this good, but our girls had a great attitude. We actually worked harder this week than any point of the season so far and our girls worked hard today, too. Our big focus is the Conference USA Championships, and I know the focus and determination our girls are showing at events like this will have us ready for conference."
After a lighting problem caused a slight delay in the meet's start time, the teams kicked off the dual with the 200-yard medley relay. Freshman Marissa Blumenthal, Hillis, Kells and Eeson combined for a time of 1:50.26 and a fourth-place finish.
Sophomores Kimmy Ballo and Holli Pisarski teamed with freshmen Colleen Donovan and Heather Winn for fifth place (1:54.99). Rounding out the Cougars in the event were sophomore Moira Fraser and freshmen Leah Sanchez, Emma Nelson and Lauren Spano.
Sophomore Reka Kovacs swam the Cougars' best 1,000-yard freestyle time of the year in the following event. Her 10:19.30 earned her fourth place. Junior Natalie Newcomb came in sixth as they were the only two Cougars to compete in the event.
Two more Cougars battled the much larger Aggie squad in the following race, as well. Competing in the 200-yard free for the first time in their career, Lowry and Winn finished back-to-back in fifth and sixth, respectively.
Fraser set a personal best in the 100-yard backstroke, taking seventh with a 1:03 flat. Ballo claimed fifth in the event (1:01.43) and Blumenthal finished sixth (1:02.03). In the following race, Hillis swam the third-fastest 100-yard breaststroke of the year for the Cougars to earn fifth place (1:06.97). Pisarski came in right behind her in sixth (1:09.67) while Sanchez broke her personal record in the event by nearly two seconds to finish seventh (1:10.51). Spano rounded out the lineup in eighth.
"We've only had three meets and we still had girls breaking personal bests today," Taylor said. "Little-by-little, we're getting there."
Newcomb led UH in the 200-yard butterfly with a fifth-place mark (2:14.42), Nelson bested her quickest time in the event (2:16.29) for sixth. Donovan finished out the race in seventh.
Eeson and Kells were both just shy of setting new personal bests in the 50-yard freestyle and finished in sixth and seventh, respectively.
The swimmers got a breather as the divers took to the pool for the 3-meter competition. Truelove stepped up against the nationally ranked power, knocking down second place with an NCAA-qualifying score of 297.05 in the first diving event of the evening. Lonnegren took fifth with a score of 267.25.
"The girl that beat us in both events (Jaele Patrick) is the girl to beat in the country," head diving coach Jane Figueiredo said. "So coming into tonight, we knew she would be a step ahead of us. Lacey has the dives to stay with her. She has the dives it takes to put it together to show that she's a big gun, too. Julia was very solid in the 1-meter and I was very proud of her. She just needs to build more confidence in the 3-meter. That's the big dog we dove against tonight, if we can hang with her then we're going to be OK."
Not even a second slower than her personal best 100-yard freestyle time, Kells led the Cougars with the swimmers' first, second-place finish of the night. Winn followed close behind in third place with her best time in the event (56.04) as the duo secured seven quick points for UH.
Ballo, Blumenthal and Spano strung together a second-third-fourth finish in the 200-yard backstroke to help boost the Cougars score heading into the 200-yard breaststroke.
Swimming in her main event, Hillis swam for a second-place finish (2:21.09) in the 200-yard breaststroke while Kovacs challenged her in third (2:23.32). Pisarski and Sanchez rounded out the UH lineup in fourth and fifth, respectively.
Nelson and Newcomb both made a serious run in the 500-yard free, staying in the top of the pack for nearly the entire race. In the end, however, it was Eeson who claimed the Cougars' top spot. Eeson posted UH's best 500-yard freestyle time of the year (5:05.95) en route to her second-place finish in the event. Newcomb earned third while Nelson set another personal best, posting a time of 5:24.92, which was good for fourth.
In the 100-yard butterfly, Lowry was less than a tenth of a second off of her personal best as she claimed swam into second place (1:00.24). Fraser and Donovan took third and fourth, respectively.
Diving in their last event of the evening, Lonnegren and Truelove shined again, this time in the 1-meter competition. Lonnegren took her turn with a second-place finish of her own (300.45) while Truelove snatched the remaining top-three spot with her score of 275.25.
As the evening wound down, the Cougars stayed hot with another second-third-fourth lineup in the 200-yard IM. Kovacs took second while Hillis and Donovan took third and fourth.
Continuing to battle, the Cougars notched their first win of the night in the final event. Eeson, Kells, Fraser and Kovacs claimed top honors with their time of 3:36.70, UH's second best time of the year in the event. Lowry, Winn, Ballo and Nelson locked down second place (3:47.59) while the relay team of Blumenthal, Newcomb, Pisarski and Sanchez nabbed third.
The Cougars open their home schedule on Sat., Nov. 6 against the University of Miami. Held at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Natatorium, the meet is slated to start at 1 p.m.
Players Mentioned
