Swimming & Diving

Cougars to take on in-state opponent

The Cougars’ two-month layoff will finally come to an end when they jump back in the pool Friday for a dual at North Texas, followed by a meet at SMU on Saturday. 

The Cougars were led with strong performances by sophomore Beccy Hillis en route to a fourth-place finish at the Cougar Fall Classic Invitational on Nov. 22.  

Hillis and her teammates look to build on that performance against the Mean Green on Friday. 

“We are worried about a layoff-type situation, and we know we are a little bit rusty in a few areas, but with the Conference USA Championships the last week of February, we know we have to step up now,” head coach Mark Taylor said. 

North Texas has been swimming well, lately, and is coming off a huge win against TCU on Jan.15. 

“We’re pretty even,” Taylor said, “we gear more to championship meets than we do the dual meet head-to-head competition, and they are really doing strong.”

“That was a complete upset of them beating TCU like that, and so we’re going to have to step up and our girls are really going to have to perform their best to be able to beat that team.” 

Saturday’s meet against SMU will provide a challenge, but UH may have caught a break as the Mustangs have been on a skid. The Mustangs are coming off back-to-back losses to Texas A&M and Auburn in early January. 

SMU will swim its first home meet tonight against Rice before facing the Cougars on Saturday. 

“It’s going to be difficult,” Taylor said. “That’s why we swim against those quality teams — to test ourselves early in the year like this.” 

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