Conference USA Gives Out Weekly Awards

IRVING, Texas, December 6. RICE's Erin Mattson and Houston's Anastasia Pozdniakova are this week's Conference USA Swimmer and Diver of the Week, respectively. Mattson won the 200-yard butterfly and was also a member of Rice's winning 200-freestyle relay team in the Owls' dual meet against No. 5 Texas A&M. Pozdniakova continues to dominate in springboard competition as she won both the one- and three-meter events at the Texas Diving Invitational. She scored more than 300 points in both events and was the only diver to crack the 300 mark on the one-meter board.

Mattson won the 200-yard butterfly with a season-best time of 2:05.21 and she was a member of Rice's winning 200-freestyle relay team in the Owls' only event of the week, a dual meet on the road against fifth-ranked Texas A&M on Saturday. The freshman led from start to finish for her victory in the 200-fly. Not only was her winning time the Owls' best mark of the year, it is actually Rice's best in two years dating back to the school record set in the spring of 2005. The Rice rookie from Highland, Ill., came back later in the meet and swam a strong third leg of 200-free relay. The Owls posted a winning relay time of 1:38.10. This is Mattson's first career weekly honor.

Pozdniakova was the leading competitor for the Cougars at the Texas Invitational as she won both the one- and three-meter springboard competitions. The sophomore scored 383.10 points in the three-meter finals to win by nearly 27 points. She outscored all divers in the prelims of the three-meter as well, scoring 334.65 points. In the one-meter finals, she won by nearly 40 points, scoring 316.70. Her prelim total of 312.00 also led all divers. Pozdniakova was the only diver to crack 300 points on the one-meter board and accomplished the score in both the preliminaries and the finals. The weekly award is the fourth of the season (Oct. 31, Nov. 8 and Nov. 21) for the reigning C-USA Freshman Diver of the Year and the sixth of her career.

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