University of Houston Athletics
Swimming and Diving Prepares to Host Phill Hansel Invitational
11/17/2010 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Nov. 17, 2010
HOUSTON - The University of Houston swimming and diving team will compete in its largest event of the fall season when the Cougars play host to the Phill Hansel Cougar Classic Invitational Nov. 18-20.
Eight schools and 11 teams will compete this Thursday-Saturday at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center (CRWC) Natatorium. Teams attending include No. 8 Texas A&M, No. 18 SMU, No. 22 LSU, Rice, Tulane, New Mexico and Nebraska. Texas A&M, SMU and LSU's men's teams will also compete.
The annual fall invitational was renamed in honor of Cougar coaching legend Phill Hansel, who passed away in August.
Long touted as the most influential man in Cougar swimming and diving, Hansel served as the head of the program from 1957-1996. During that span he guided the Cougars to more than 70 dual meet wins and ten Top-20 finishes at the AIAW and NCAA Championships.
Not only does the invitational now boast a largely important name, the meet itself is the most important contest the Cougar swimmers will compete in during their fall season.
"It's a pretty important meet for us in the fall," head coach Mark Taylor said. "Every fall most of the college teams in the country work on getting the fastest times they can get so later on when they enter their conference championships they will have very good seed times, which means they will be racing the fastest kids from your conference."
The Cougars are making an impact as the fastest in the conference as the Cougars hold the fastest C-USA times in six different events. Sophomore Reka Kovacs leads the way by holding the top spot in the 1,000-yard freestyle and the 400-yard individual medley. Freshman Laykin Lowry posted the fastest time in the mile (1,650-yard freestyle), while junior Kim Eeson is the quickest 200-yard freestyler in the conference.
Junior Beccy Hillis has the lock in the 200-yard breaststroke going into the weekend, and freshman Heather Winn is currently the best 500-yard freestyler.
While in preparation mode for the weekend, Taylor has slightly lightened the Cougars' workout load in order to put a rested team in the pool for the six total sessions they will compete in starting Thursday at 10 a.m.
"We're looking to see some great performances and we're hoping to see some NCAA provisional times," Taylor said. "If we can get some NCAA provisional times out of the way, I think we'll have done a really good job with fall preparations."
Taylor is referring to the fact that at any point in the season, the Cougars can qualify for the NCAA Championships by posting NCAA provisional times. The NCAA sets standard qualifying times for each sanctioned event. When a student-athlete sets an `A' qualifying time, they automatically punch their ticket to the NCAA Championships. NCAA `B' times qualify the student-athlete on an alternate basis in the event the NCAA `A' qualifiers are unable to compete.
As the team reaches the pinnacle of the fall season, Taylor would like to see NCAA qualifying times posted this weekend before the toughest break in the season.
"After this, it's back to extremely hard training for about a month and a half up through the Christmas Training Trip (Jan. 5), then a meet in every week but the final one before the Conference USA Championships," Taylor said. "This is our time to look and feel fast before we go into probably the hardest work of the entire season."
On the diving side, both sophomore Julia Lonnegren and All-American senior Lacey Truelove have posted NCAA qualifying scores in the team's first four meets. Saturday, however, will mark the team's first platform diving competition of the season. Both of Truelove's All-America honors are from platform diving as the senior is also a two-time Conference USA Champion in the event.
The Phill Hansel Invitational will provide more work as the team prepares for its most prominent meet of the fall, the Texas Invitational on Dec. 2-4. Hosted by the University of Texas, the diving-only meet is what head coach Jane Figueiredo is using this weekend as another opportunity to ready her divers, despite the possibility of being without Lonnegren.
"Texas is the meet we're peaking for but this one will help get us more ready," Figueiredo said. "Hopefully we'll have Julia this weekend, and Lacey is going to fabulous. She has got to compete this weekend, so we'll see. They're going to be great and it's going to be a great meet."
Taylor and head diving coach Jane Figueiredo brought in a strong field for the invitational, including three Conference USA, one SEC and two Big 12 opponents. In the Cougars' opening weeks of the season, their difficult schedule has pitted them against No. 8 Texas A&M and No. 18 SMU.
The Cougars fell to both national powers in dual competition, but continue to inch closer toward their goals against them.
"The SMU women are the team to beat in our conference," Taylor said. "They are perennially the strongest team and have won several conference championships in the last 20 years. Their coach (Steve Collins) is outstanding and their athletes are incredibly good. Every year we're trying to get closer to them."
"Being from the SEC, LSU is a powerhouse and we hope to do well against them. Rice and Tulane will both be here and whenever we swim against them we want to do well. It's going to be a very strong field and we need to do well against them."
Each day will consist of a morning session beginning at 10 a.m. and an evening session at 6 p.m. Fans are encouraged to bring a canned food donation to support the Cougars' holiday food drive.
Refer to the schedule of events for a complete breakdown on the invitational. Final results will be posted to UHCougars.com at the conclusion of each day.
Players Mentioned
