Houston Sweeps C-USA Swimming & Diving Weekly Awards

HOUSTON, Texas. February, 1. UNIVERSITY of Houston juniors Szintia Szanto and Rachel Gitelson were honored Tuesday as the Conference USA Swimmer and Diver of the Week, respectively.

With their performances, Szanto and Gitelson helped lead the Cougars to a convincing 139-115 win over defending C-USA champion Tulane last weekend. The win capped the Cougars' regular season with a 9-8 dual-meet record, the first winning season since 1999-00 and only the second winning season in the last 20 years.

It also tied the UH single-season record for most wins in a season, equaling the mark set by the 2003-04 team.

Szanto won the award for the first time in 2005-06 and the second time in her career. Szanto set two school records in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke events. Her time of 1:04.39 in the 100-yard event was more than five seconds faster than her closest competitor and beat the previous mark of 1:04.86, set by Patty Clark on March 1, 1986.

In the 200-yard breaststroke, she posted a time of 2:18.99 to finish nearly four seconds ahead of the second-place swimmer and broke the mark first set by Helena Pirow on Feb. 27, 1988.

She capped her day with another first-place showing in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:06.89 and swam the second leg of the Cougars' winning 200-yard medley relay team, which finished with a time of 1:47.68.

Gitelson's award was the first weekly award of her career and established her as the fourth different Cougar to collect it this season, joining freshman Tania Cagnotto, redshirt freshman Anastasia Pozdniakova and junior Anna Kiess.

It also marked the 10th time in a 12-week span during the 2005-06 season that a Cougar performer received the accolade and the 33rd time that a Cougar diver earned the honor since 2001-02.

The Glendale, Ariz., native swept both diving events against the Green Wave. She won the 1-meter even with 287.00 points and captured first place in the 3-meter competition with 278.17 points to win by nearly 60 points.

Both point totals were the fourth highest by any C-USA diver this season.

Szanto and her swimming teammates will not compete again until Feb. 22-25 when the Cougars play host to the 2006 C-USA Women's Swimming & Diving Championship and Men's Invitational at UH's own Campus Recreation & Wellness Center Natatorium.

Gitelson and the other Cougar divers take part in the Orlando Diving Invitational on Feb. 10-12 before taking part in the C-USA meet.

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