The UH swimming and diving team had a rough weekend, as it dropped both of its meets, losing 150-87 to SMU on Saturday and 173-109 to Texas A & M on Friday.
The Cougars now sit at 9-3 in dual meets, but the weekend was not a total loss as junior diver Anastasia Pozdniakova earned the Conference USA Diver of the Week award for the sixth time this season.
UH won three events at SMU, where Anastasia Pozdniakova finished first in both diving events.
In the 1-meter competition, Pozdniakova’s 350.86 points were enough to edge out sophomore diver teammate Courtney Forcucci.
Pozdniakova posted 296.78 points to top Forcucci in the 3-meter competition. She also took first place in both diving competitions at College Station, earning 318.3 points in the 1-meter event and 375.08 points in the 3-meter contest.
UH’s only other first place finish at the SMU meet was provided by senior swimmer Sasha Schwendenwein, who finished the 200-yard butterfly event with a time of 2:02.6. Schwendenwein’s time was the ninth fastest in school history. Schwendenwein also took second place in the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:50.28-the seventh fastest time in UH history.
In the 1,000-yard freestyle competition, freshman swimmers Kimberley Eeson (10:54.43) and Rachel Holcomb (11:32.94) finished second and third respectively, and Eeson’s time of 5:14.3 gave her a second place finish in the 500-yard freestyle.
In addition to Pozdniakova’s victories at Texas A&M, the Cougars also won the 200-yard freestyle relay. Senior swimmer Andrea Pa’lmai, freshman swimmer Paige Bissett, Schwendenwein and Eeson finished the event in 1:41.97, more than six seconds faster than the team that finished in second place.
Pa’lmai grabbed a second place finish in the 500-yard freestyle, completing the race in 5:02.92.
Sophomore swimmer Andrea Kells finished second in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 59.9 seconds.
UH continues its season with a journey to Baton Rouge, La. to compete in the LSU Invitational on Jan. 30 and 31. Rice and New Orleans are expected to join the Cougars and LSU in the competition.
