Cougars Keep Rolling on Day Two of Phill Hansel Invitational
11/19/2010 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
HOUSTON - The University of Houston swimming and diving team completed the second day of the Phill Hansel Cougar Classic Invitational at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Friday.
Taking full advantage of being at home, the Cougars posted seven personal records and broke into several of the program's all-time best performance lists.
"We were incredible today," head swimming coach Mark Taylor said. "We had incredible performances today. Kim (Eeson) was only half a second away from the times that got people invited to the NCAA Championships last season (in the 200-yard freestyle). Beccy Hillis had an incredible 100-yard breaststroke swim. We set so many personal bests and UH all-time performances that it's going to take several days to sort through the paperwork just to see how good we were today."
At the conclusion of Friday's competition, the Cougars continue to sit in third place behind nationally-ranked No. 22 LSU and No. 18 SMU. Houston (382) holds a fair lead over fourth-place Rice (323) and fifth-place Tulane (247) heading into the final day.
The divers hit the pool first for day two's 1-meter finals and posted a solid effort in the process. Sophomore Julia Lonnegren held the lead for the majority of the competition before LSU's Becca St. Germain executed on a late-round dive to take the narrow victory. Lonnegren finished in second by a mere 3.95 points (294.00). Senior Lacey Truelove posted a score of 270.85 to give both Cougar divers NCAA `A' qualifying marks.
"That particular dive (that Germain performed) was one Julia just missed in prelims, too," head diving coach Jane Figueiredo said. "That shows that we still have a way to go, but she had her best performance of the weekend tonight. We're getting better and we'll get it when it matters - I hope."
As they did the night before, Houston's `A' relay team kicked off the evening with a fourth-place finish. Freshman Marissa Blumenthal, junior Beccy Hillis, senior Andrea Kells and junior Kim Eeson teamed up to post the Cougars' best 200-yard medley relay time of the season and the sixth-best time in program history (1:44.82).
Houston's `B' relay team chipped in the second-best time of the year with a time of 1:49.47. Sophomores Moira Fraser and Holli Pisarski and freshmen Laykin Lowry and Krystan Morrell comprised the squad.
Swimming in her top event, sophomore Reka Kovacs earned an NCAA Championship provisional time in the 400-yard individual medley. Kovacs posted the Cougars' best time of the season and missed the second-best time in program history by just two-hundredths of a second (4:19.54). Kovacs already holds school record in event, which she set at the Conference USA Championships in February.
"Reka was amazing tonight in the 400 IM," Taylor said. "I would say that she probably had her best in-season performance tonight."
Hillis also qualified for the 400-yard IM championship finals and her time of 4:27.08 gave her a seventh-place finish. Junior Natalie Newcomb posted a time of 4:31.65 in the consolation finals, while freshman Lauren Spano set a personal best (4:47.52) in the Bonus D heat.
Kells led the way in the 100-yard butterfly, taking third place in the consolation finals with a time of 56.73, the Cougars' best time of the season. Lowry posted a 58.59 in her heat and Fraser (58.35), Donovan (59.58) and Blumenthal (1:00.02) each swam in the first heat. Donovan and Blumenthal each logged PRs.
The 200-yard freestyle provided another round of drama between nationally-ranked SMU and the Cougars. Eeson held her own against the conference power's Nina Rangelova, finishing coming in right behind her in second. Eeson's time of 1:47.41 did a lot of work. Her time broke her previous personal best, marked her second NCAA provisional qualifying time of the invite and ranked as the Cougars' all-time third-best performance in the event.
Ballo posted a season-best time (1:55.41) in the consolation finals. Winn notched a career best (1:54.19) to finish second in her heat and Donovan swam alongside her for a time of 1:57.23.
A championship finals qualifier in two different events, Hillis set the tone for the 100-yard breaststroke when she took fourth with a time of 1:04.86, tying the seventh-best time in Houston history. Pisarski clocked in at a season-best 1:06.95 to finish fourth in the consolation finals and Sanchez recorded her best-career time with a 1:08.21.
In the 100-yard backstroke consolation finals, Blumenthal took her turn leading the team as her personal-best time of 58.20 put her in fifth place in the consolation finals. Ballo stayed with her, finishing in seventh (58.80). Fraser lodged her career-best time in her heat, clocking in at 59.33.
The 800-yard freestyle relay brought on the crowd noise as everyone got involved to watch the Cougars post the ninth-best time in program history. Lowry, Kovacs, Ballo and Eeson were responsible with their time of 7:31.08, finishing in fourth place.
Fraser, Kells, Winn and Donovan churned out a time of 7:41.35 to finish the event in ninth place.
The final day of competition will begin with the preliminary session at 10 a.m. The divers will not participate in a preliminary round of the platform competition. They are set to take the pool for the championship finals at 1 p.m.
Saturday night's swimming finals session has been moved to 5 p.m. instead of the previously scheduled 6 p.m. All events will be held at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Natatorium.
Live results are available here: http://www.uhcougars.com/livestats/w-swim/.
Prelim Notes:
-400-yard IM: Sophomore Reka Kovacs swam the Cougars' best time of the season (4:22.96), winning her heat to qualify for the championship finals. Junior Beccy Hillis swam her season-best in the event, finishing right behind Kovacs in second (4:25.04). In the previous heat, junior Natalie Newcomb crushed her season-best time by nearly 10 seconds (4:33.91).
-100-yard Butterfly:
Senior Andrea Kells set the pace for a Cougar-full 100-yard butterfly, swimming UH's best time of the season (56.79). Six freshmen set personal bests during the morning session: Laykin Lowry (58.49), Colleen Donovan (59.88), Marissa Blumenthal (1:00.19), Heather Winn (1:01.80), Emma Nelson (1:02.35) and Krystan Morrell (1:03.45).
-200-yard Freestyle: Junior Kim Eeson set her second NCAA Championship provisional qualifying time of the invitational with her time of 1:48.57, UH's best time of the year. Lowry also notched a PR (1:54.29) as well as Donovan (1:55.89) and Winn (1:55.91).
-100-yard Breaststroke: Hillis clocked her best time in her premier event (1:03.88) to qualify for Friday night's finals. Sophomore Holli Pisarski also notched a career best (1:06.36). The freshmen continued to swim solid as Leah Sanchez (1:09.66) and Lauren Spano (1:11.04) swam their best times in the event.
-100-yard backstroke: Freshman Marissa Blumenthal swam the Cougar's fastest time of the season (58.04) to qualify for the consolation finals. Sophomore Kimmy Ballo qualified alongside her, nearly breaking her PR (58.61). Sophomore Moira Fraser broke her personal best by more than two seconds (1:00.53). Freshman Krystan Morrell smashed her previous personal best by six seconds.
Players Mentioned
