Houston jumped out to a day 1 lead at its Phill Hansel Invite.
Houston Press Release
HOUSTON – Freshman Laura Laderoute, junior Micaela Bouter and the 200-yard freestyle relay led the way for the University of Houston Swimming team Friday night to open the 2016 Phill Hansel Invitational. Houston finished the night with six top-three finishes with Laderoute and the 400-yard Medley Relay team rewriting program bests at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center.
“We came out swinging this morning and battled hard all day. We broke two school records and saw multiple lifetime best performances,” Swimming & Diving Head Coach Ryan Wochomurka said. “We are swimming very well, and most importantly racing hard.”
Houston is currently leading the pack with a score of 393.5 after the first day of the invitational. Rice follows in second with a score of 347, and UC-Davis rounds out the podium with 250 points.
The Cougars got started early nabbing a victory in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The team of Cait Horner, Laura Laderoute, Ksenia Yuskova, Michaela Hamrick out touched rivals Rice to finish first with a time of 1:32.41.
In the 200-yard IM, freshman Laderoute captured her third individual first-place finish. The West Linn, Ore., native set the school record, previously set by Reka Kovacs on Feb. 23, 2013, during preliminaries with a time of 2:01.46. During finals, Laderoute improved her school record touching the wall at 2:00.58, a NCAA B standard time.
On the springboards, Micaela Bouter placed first overall in the 1-meter dive. The Johannesburg, South Africa native captured first after netting a score of 321.80. Freshman Lauren Burrell followed in second with a score of 283.15.
In the 500-yard freestyle, junior Ksenia Yuskova grabbed a podium finish placing third overall. The Moscow, Russia, native swam a time of 4:49.09 to round out the podium. In prelims, Yuskova netted a time of 4:48.13, a personal best, which moves her to fourth in program top-10.
In the final event of the night, the 400-yard medley relay broke a seven-year school record. The team of Eleanna Koutsouveli, Peyton Kondis, Sharo Rodriguez and Zarena Brown topped program best 3:41.65 set on Feb. 24, 2009 after netting a time of 3:41.44. The Cougars finished second overall in the relay event.
“Our challenge now is to continue bringing the same fight for the next four sessions,” Wochomurka said.
UC Davis Press Release
HOUSTON, Texas -- UC Davis sophomore Solie Laughlin eclipsed the NCAA "B" cut in the 200 IM in Friday night's championship final, headlining the Aggies' efforts on day one at the 2016 Phill Hansel Invitational hosted by the University of Houston at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Natatorium.
UC Davis ended the day in third place as a team with 250 points, standing behind the host Cougars (393.5) and second-place Rice (347), while edging out New Mexico (219.5), after the first six events of the weekend.
After swimming the second-fastest time in the prelims -- and the fifth-fastest time in school history in the event -- Laughlin went even lower in Friday night's finals, touching in a time of 2:00.77 to finish just two-tenths behind Laura Laderoute of Houston, who swam a 2:00.58 to win the event. Laughlin's finals time bested the NCAA "B" standard of 2:01.59, and lowered her all-time best by three seconds -- one which now ranks fourth in school history.
It was a good event for the Aggies, who saw senior Elise Roberts swim a career-best 2:03.14 to finish second in the "B" final, while sophomore Eva Chung also scored by finishing 20th in a time of 2:05.71. Sophomore Kristin Schumann, who narrowly missed out on qualifying for one of the three scoring finals, won the "D" final on Friday night with a career-best time of 2:04.88, while sophomore Mia Facey also qualified for a second swim, ending the day 29th with a time of 2:06.51.
UC Davis opened the night with a fourth-place finish in the 200 free relay, as the quartet of Courtney Schultz, Robin Lampron, Jamie Pincin, and Kirsten Brand, posted a season-best time of 1:33.37, better than a second faster than the team's previous best set at UCLA on Oct. 22.
The 500 free followed as the first individual event of the day as freshman Olivia Smith (5:01.68) and Lampron (5:10.56) both earned second swims. Senior Marissa Brown qualified for the "C" final in 22nd place as the first Aggie to break the five minute mark this season with a time of 4:59.27 in the prelims, but was scratched from Friday night's finals.
A trio of Aggies then scored big in the 50 free, including a pair who qualified for the championship final. Kirsten Brand, who finished fourth in the prelims with a season-best time of 23.29, and Schultz, who ended the day seventh in the prelims, swapped places in Friday's final. Schultz finished with the second-fastest time by a UC Davis swimmer in the event this season with a time of 23.39 to finish fourth, while Brand touched in a time of 23.61 to end up sixth.
Freshman Jamie Pincin, who swam a 23.88 to finish 23rd in the prelims, shaved four-tenths off that time to win the "C" final with a time of 23.49 and finish 17th overall. Facey (24.11) and Lampron (24.61) also earned second swims in the 50 free, finishing 38th and 40th overall.
The Aggies' relays came through big once again to close out the night in the pool, as the quartet of Laughlin, Roberts, Kirsten Brand, and Schultz, finished third in the 400 medley relay in a season-best time of 3:44.06.
Sending only two divers to the invitational, both came through with points on the low board on Friday night, as sophomore Shaifali Goyal finished eighth in the championship final with a score of 234.25, while junior Angelina Proshak was sixth in the "B" final -- and 14th overall -- with a score of 208.75.
