Jan. 23, 2007
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IRVING, Texas - Despite having its six-meet win streak snapped, Houston's swimming and diving team still notched impressive performances and swept this week's Conference USA weekly awards. The Cougars fell to No. 5 Texas A&M, but rebounded to down the Miami Hurricane in their regular-season home finale.
In other action, East Carolina lost a heartbreaker to UMBC, 119-118, and Marshall split its contests with Radford and the Miami RedHawks. Rice also notched a win over the Miami Hurricane to improve to 8-5, while No. 8 SMU fell to both No. 2 Arizona and No. 12 Texas.
SWIMMER/DIVER of the Week (1/23)
Houston sweeps this week's Conference USA Swimmer and Diver of the Week awards after a strong showing in its dual meets with No. 5 Texas A&M and Miami (FL). Senior Szintia Szanto capped her regular-season home career by grabbing the Cougars' only win against the Aggies and followed that up by winning three events against Miami. Her wins against the Hurricane propelled UH to a 137-106 win. Teammate Anastasia Pozdniakova won all four events during the dual meets, scoring more than 300 points three out of four times, to claim the diving honor.
SWIMMER of the Week (1/23)
SZINTIA SZANTO - Houston
Sr., Budapest, Hungary (Eotvos Jozsef Gimnazium)
Szanto capped her regular-season home career at the CRWC Natatorium in fine fashion. The senior won the Cougars' only event against No. 5 Texas A&M, the 100-yard butterfly, with a time of 57.07. In her final regular-season home meet, she won three events against Miami to help lead the Cougars to their 16th dual-meet win of the season. Szanto won the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:03.83 and the 200-yard butterfly with a time of 2:05.10. The native of Hungary also added a first-place showing in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:18.40 - the fourth fastest time in school history - against the Hurricanes. This is Szanto's second weekly honor of the season (Oct. 17).
DIVER of the Week (1/23)
ANASTASIA POZDNIAKOVA - Houston
So., Elektrostal, Russia (Secondary General Education School No. 16)
Pozdniakova won all four diving events during dual meets against No. 5 Texas A&M and Miami last weekend. The sophomore won the 3-meter competition with 358.13 points and claimed top honors on the 1-meter springboard with 301.87 points against the Texas A&M. She was the only diver to crack 300 points in either event against the Aggies. Pozdniakova also swept both diving events against Miami. The native of Russia tallied 350.48 points on the 3-meter springboard and 299.32 points on the 1-meter board against the Hurricanes. This is Pozdniakova's fifth Diver of the Week honor in 2006-07 (Oct. 31, Nov. 8 and 21, Dec. 5) after being named C-USA Freshman Diver of the Year a season ago.
2006-07 C-USA WOMEN'S SWIMMERS/DIVERS OF THE WEEK
O17 S- Szintia Szanto, Houston
D- Anna Keiss, Houston
O24 S- Anja Carman, SMU
D -Christie Icenhower, East Carolina
O31 S- Petra Klosova, SMU
D- Anastasia Pozdniakova, Houston
N8 S- Diane Gu, Rice
D- Anastasia Pozdniakova, Houston
N14 S- Jennifer Blackman, SMU
D- Kristin Schild, SMU
N21 S- Petra Klosova, SMU
D- Anastasia Pozdniakova, Houston
D5 S- Erin Mattson, Rice
D- Anastasia Pozdniakova, Houston
D19 S- Katie Roberts, SMU
D- No Diver Awarded
J9 S- Petra Klosova, SMU
D- Kristin Schild, SMU
J16 S- Sasha Schwendenwein, Houston
D- Christie Icenhower, East Carolina
J23 S- Szintia Szanto, Houston
D- Anastasia Pozdniakova, Houston
ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
Conference USA will name an Swimmer and Diver of the week throughout the regular season. The Athlete of the Week awards are selected by the C-USA media relations department and announced every Tuesday throughout the season.
OTHER NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
(1/15- 1/21)
MICHAELA SCELI - Marshall
Sceli, the school record holder in both the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke, finished second in the 100-yard discipline (1:06.79). She later captured the 200-yard event with a time of 2:24.97 to lead the Thundering Herd to a home tri-meet split against regional rivals Miami (Ohio) and Radford Friday evening.
CARLYANN MILLER - Rice
Miller won two events and swam the lead leg of the Owls' winning 400-freestyle relay team to pace the Blue & Gray to a 159-103 dual meet win over Miami-Fla., in the team's only action last week. The standout from Fort Gibson, Okla., won the 50-free (24.08), the 100-free (52.56) and posted a 52.47 split on the relay. Miller was also second in the 200-free, 1.1 seconds behind teammate Brittany Massengale.
PETRA KLOSOVA - SMU
Klosova posted three career-best times as she swam against top competition this weekend against No. 2 Arizona and No. 12 Texas. The sophomore swam a career-best time in the women's 100 back for second-place as she touched in at 55.84. Klosova swam another career-best time in the women's 200 IM taking first-place with a time of 2:02.90. In the 200 back, she swam a career-best time of 2:01.56 for fourth-place. As the final leg on the 400 free relay, Klosova's relay team ended the meet by swimming a second-best SMU season time as they tallied another first-place finish for the Mustangs. She got the Mustangs off to a great start as the first leg of the second-place 400 medley relay team. The relay posted a time of 3:45.19 which is the second best 400 medley relay time posted this season for SMU. She swam the second leg of the fourth-place 200 free relay that posted a time of 1:34.95. As the first leg of the 200 medley relay, Klosova helped the relay post the second-best Mustang relay time this season as they clocked in at 1:43.35 for fourth-place
KRISTIN SCHILD - SMU
Schild performed off of all three boards this weekend against top competition as she faced divers from No. 2 Arizona and No. 12 Texas. In the three-meter diving event, she placed fifth with a score of 257.05 while on the one-meter she placed seventh with a score of 230.20. On the final day of the meet, there was a mixed competition in the platform diving as she placed fifth with a mark of 203.17 which was the season best placing for a female diver.
2006-07 C-USA TOP TIMES
For a list of C-USA Women's Swimming Top Times, please go to: https://secure.sportssystems.com/ScoreReporting/cusa/sportID/1/g/W
