No. 25 Houston Swimming Heads to Arkansas to Open 2019 (L 193-107)

pray10 · January 17, 2019, 4:30pm

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

* Houston is currently 25th in the latest CSCAA/TYR Poll, its highest ranking under Head Coach Ryan Wochomurka.
* The Cougars are coming off of a two-month hiatus, last competing at the Phill Hansel Invitational, Nov. 16-18.
* Houston is 5-0 in dual meet action this season.
* The Cougars are looking for their fifth win over the Razorbacks, last meeting with the Razorbacks last season in a double-dual with both Arkansas and Vanderbilt.
* The meet will mark the first of four matchups with SEC foes this season.
* Houston posted 19 NCAA B-Cut times the last time it competed. The last time Houston faced Arkansas, the Cougars walked away with 11 podium finishes.
* Mykenzie Leehy and Zarena Brown are a mainstay on the podium for the Cougars with NCAA B-Cuts in the Freestyle events.
* Peyton Kondis and Angeliki Mavrantza have helped anchor the Cougars in the Breaststroke, each closing out the Phill Hansel Invitational with NCAA B-Cut times.
* Laura Laderoute and Eleanna Koutsouveli have each had stellar seasons for the Cougars so far, highlighted by NCAA B-Cuts times in the Backstroke and IM events.
* Katie Higgins in a force for the Cougars in the Butterfly events, breaking a 40 year-old program record in the 100 Butterfly earlier this season.
* Haley Benjamin has had a stellar start to her debut season at Houston, winning American Weekly honors for her conference-leading times in the distance events.
* On the boards, Katie Deininger, Lauren Burrell, Claire Liptak, and Jaylynn Whitt have posted conference-leading scores in the 1-meter, 3-meter, and platform.

SCOUTING THE RAZORBACKS

* Arkansas is receiving eight votes in the latest CSCAA/TYR Poll.
* The Razorbacks are 4-3 in dual meet action this season, with a notable win over then No. 15 Missouri.
* Arkansas is in its third year under Head Coach Neil Harper.
* The Razorbacks finished last season 10th in the SEC.

pray10 · January 19, 2019, 4:01am

Tough loss on the road to a solid squad. However, Coach seems to be working on a few things:

“I’m very happy with our performance today,” said Head Coach Ryan Wochomurka. “We raced extremely hard on the road against a very good Arkansas, after a lay-off since November. I certainly hate losing, but the point total doesn’t tell the whole story of our performance today. We had multiple individuals put up season-best and lifetime-best performances. That is what we want to see five weeks out of conference championships. We have intentionally scheduled tough meets for this three-week stretch so we will be battle tested when it matters most during the last week of February”.
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HOW IT HAPPENED

* The Cougars racked up 20 top-three finishes, including a pair of first place finishes in the 100 backstroke by Laura Laderoute(55.03) and Ioanna Sacha in the 200 backstroke (2:00.19).
* Sophomore transfer Ioanna Sacha made her Houston debut by posting the seventh-fastest time in program history in the 200 backstroke. The Cougars swept the event with Laderoute finishing second (2:01.65) and Monique Rae in third (2:02.22).
* Houston closed out the meet with second and third-place finishes in the 400 Freestyle Relay, as well as a second-place finish in the opening event of the day, the 200 Medley Relay.
* Several Cougars posted lifetime best, including Shayla Erickson who finished third in the 1000 Freestyle at 10:21.46.
* On the boards Katie Deininger led the Cougars in the 1-Meter, finishing in fourth-place with 261.83 points. In the 3-Meter Makayla Wallar led Houston with a fifth-place finish with 278.85 points.