Cougars 4th in 800-yard Freestyle Relay

By Robert H. Kelly
Copyright 2008 TexSport Publications

HOUSTON, TEXAS (February 27, 2008) The University of Houston 800-yard freestyle relay finished in fourth place with the time of 7:37.63 on the opening night of the 2008 Conference USA Swimming and Diving Championships at UH's Campus Recreation and Wellness Center Natatorium.

The team juniors Sasha Schwendenwein and Andrea Pa’lmai and freshmen Paige Bissett and Andrea Kells held off East Carolina University for most of the race, however the Pirates overtook the Cougars during the final 50 yards to take the bronze medal.

SMU finished in first with the time of 7:04.87, which was an NCAA "A" qualifying time. Rice took the silver medal (7:21.75) whcih was an NCAA "B" cut, with East Carolina in third (7:34.43) followed by Marshall (7:42.73-5th), Northern Colorado (7:49.45-6th) and Cal State Bakersfield (7:58.64-7th).

The Cougars were contending for third place in the 200-yard medley relay, however an early take-off cost them the race, with Rice taking the gold medal (1:43.29).

Rice held the overall lead among C-USA schools after the first day with 74 points, while East Carolina was second with 66 points. Marshall (60) and defending champion SMU (40) rounded out the rest of the field .

On the men’s side, defending champion SMU was first after the first day with 108 points, while East Carolina and Hawai’i were tied with 104 points apiece. Cal State Bakersfield stood in fourth place with 44 points.

The meet kicks into high gear at 10 a.m., Thursday with the preliminaries of the 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard individual medley and the 50-yard freestyle. The women’s 1-meter diving preliminaries are slated to begin around 1 p.m. with the finals of all the day’s events starting at 6 p.m.