Red Team Takes Win in Houston Swimming and Diving Meet

(HOUSTON, Texas, October 10, 2007) After four years of battling to a tie with their White Team counterparts, the Red Team finally broke through with a 125-89 win during the University of Houston swimming and diving team’s annual Red and White Meet on Wednesday afternoon at the Campus Recreation & Wellness Center Natatorium.

Under the leadership of Red Team captain Doreen Polotzek, Red Team members Sasha Schwendenwein, Michelle Hall, Linda Fox, Brittany Copeland, Courtney Forcucci, Markee Johnson and Paige Bissett enjoyed the first win in five years of the annual Red-White meet.

The previous four intrasquad scrimmages had ended in mysterious ties.

The White Team consisted of team captain Andrea Pa'lmai, Donna MacLeod, Jessica Shamburger, Kristine Kelly, Andrea Kells, Lacey Truelove and Lindsay Graves.

The Cougars competed in their first meet-like environment of the season with timers, judges and a meet announcer. However, the event remained laid back with off events like the 250-yard medley relay, 125-yard freestyle, 100-yard individual medley, 75-yard backstroke and 300-yard freestyle relay.

The Red Team claimed first place in all three relay events and six of the nine individual events to enjoy the win.

Individually, Schwendenwein led all swimmers during the meet with three first-place finishes. She won the 125-yard freestyle competition with a time of 1:10.94 and earned a similar finish in the 75-yard butterfly after posting a time of 43.42. The Randburg, South Africa, native finished her day with another first-place finish in the 300-yard individual medley with a time of 3:31.01.

Polotzek won the 100-yard individual medley with a time of 1:04.60 and finished first in the 75-yard breaststroke with a time of 52.80.

Freshman Brittany Copeland, competing in her first event as a Cougar, won the 75-yard freestyle with a time of 41.82 to help lead the Red Team.

White Team sophomore Jessica Shamburger, the 2007 Conference USA Freshman Swimmer of the Year, was the only member of her team to win multiple events, taking top honors in the 25-yard freestyle with a time of 11.95and in the 75-yard backstroke with a time of 43.49.

White Team sophomore Kristine Kelly finished first in the 800-yard freestyle with a clocking of 9:42.82. White Team freshman Lindsay Graves won the 350-yard freestyle with a time of 4:05.74.

The Cougar Swimming team opens the regular season at 5 p.m., Friday when it faces Southwestern in Georgetown.

The entire team will compete together Oct. 26-27 as it plays host to BYU, Florida International, New Orleans and Conference USA rival Rice during the second Phill Hansel Duals Weekend. That two-day meet begins at 5 p.m., Oct. 26 and wraps up at 11 a.m., Oct. 27.

The meet is named after longtime Swimming and Diving head coach Phill Hansel, who led the program from 1975 to 1996, earning 70 dual-meet victories and three Southwest Conference Coach of the Year honors.