Houston takes American Athletic Conference swimming and diving title

By Robert H Kelly
Copyright 2017 TexSport Publications

(All photos by Robert H Kelly, Copyright 2017, All Rights Reserved)

HOUSTON, TEXAS (February 18, 2017) The Houston Cougars women’s swimming and diving team used six medal-platform finishes to power them to the 2017 American Athletic Conference Championships title at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center in Houston on Saturday, February 18, 2017. The conference championship was the first for the Cougars in program history. Head coach Ryan Wochomurka and diving coach Bob Gunter were selected as the Coach of the Year, with junior Micaela Bouter being awarded the Diver of the Meet honors. Houston scored 772 points in route to their title, followed by 2016 champion SMU with 676 points. Cincinnati (625), East Carolina (473), Connecticut (460) and Tulane (395) rounded out the team placing.

Wochomurka talked about the Cougars’ performance after the meet.

“Look around at everything we have at this university. We have one of the best facilities in the country. We’ve got the best administration in the country. We’ve got an athletic director who wants to jump in the pool with us at the end of the meet. Why can’t we play and be extremely relevant nationally? We’re just getting started. I’m excited for these kids and most importantly I’m excited for these seniors because they had a couple of years where they struggled, but they battled and they led us to this championship. We are not here today without our seniors.”

The Cougars who scored points and their placings are as follows:

1,650-Yard Freestyle

6. Hannah Herbst – 16:41.39

7. Connor Glenn – 16:53.00

200-Yard Backstroke

2. Eleanna Koutsouveli – 1:55.97

6. Laura Laderoute – 1:59.05

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9. Jasmine Williams – 1:58.65

12. Jennifer Penneck – 2:01.22

100-Yard Freestyle

3. Ksenia Yuskova – 49.93

6. Zarena Brown – 50.49

8. Caitlin Horner – 50.88

200-Yard Breaststroke

2. Victoria Roubique – 2:12.50

4. Peyton Kondis – 2:13.68

5. Cameron Balkom – 2:14.60

200-Yard Butterfly

5. Sharo Rodriquez Rivera – 2:00.51

Platform Dive

2. Micaela Bouter – 213.00

3 Katelyn Abernathy – 202.80

7. Laurel Burrell – 158.00

400-Yard Freestyle Relay

3. Houston – 3:21.71

Zarena Brown, Laura Laderoute, Ksenia Yuskova, Caitlin Horner

Next up for Houston will be the NCAA Zone Diving Meet on March 6-8 in Columbia, Missouri, which will determine the qualifiers for the NCAA Championships on March 15-17 in Indianapolis, Indiana.