Swimming & Diving

Houston in good standing at Pearland Invitational

The Houston swim team is hosting the Pearland Invitational this weekend and opened competition Friday afternoon. The Cougars’ event will host Rice University, Tulane University and University of North Texas.

After day one, the Cougars ended with four top five finishes. In the 500-yard freestyle, sophomore Rachel Hobbins finished fourth with a time of 4:58.85. Michaela Hamrick also earned a top-10 finish in the event, placing seventh with a time of 5:03.52.

The relay team also showed some promise on the first day, as the 200-yard freestyle team of junior Doroteja Bednjanec, senior Taylor Gregory, freshman Caitlin Horner and Hamrick took fourth in their race with a time of 1:35.55. In the 400-yard medley relay the Cougar team of Bednjanec, sophomore Cameron Balkom, junior Holly Criscuolo and junior Maya Owens placed fifth with a time of 3:55.39.

Looking back on the day’s results, head coach Rich Murphy was pleased with his team’s performance and is optimistic of the remainder of the tournament.

“We had really good energy and support from team today, and I am happy with how we raced,” said Murphy in a press release. “Our relay teams were especially strong and several student-athletes set personal bests. Overall it was a very successful day.”

Houston currently sits in fourth place with 153 points overall behind Rice (first, 431), Tulane (second, 300) and North Texas (third, 208).

The Cougars get back in action Saturday morning at 10:30 with the hopes of moving up on the leaderboard.

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