Sports

UH wants to eat Rice, gig Aggies

By Lauren McFarlane
The Daily Cougar

The UH swimming and diving team is on the road this weekend wrapping up their regular season with a pair of NCAA dual meets. 

The Cougars begin the weekend against crosstown rival Rice at 7 p.m tonight. The Owls (7-5) had a busy weekend that began with a loss to Southern Methodist on Friday. They won a triple dual meet against Louisiana-Monroe, Austin College and Denton before losing to Texas Christian on Saturday. Earlier this season the Owls had a 162-122 win over Houston

The Cougars will then head to College Station to take on No. 23 Texas A&M at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. The Aggies (7-3) are coming off a loss to No.7 Texas dropping their record to 7-3. The loss ended a seven-meet winning streak.

The day before their defeat against Texas they had two victories against Louisiana State and Rice. Sophomore Ashley Roark was the star during the three meets, taking home three first place and three-second place finishes.

Houston's record dropped to 3-6 for the season Saturday with a 143-80 loss against SMU. Senior diver Yulia Pakhalina and freshman Azul Almazan took first and second place respectively on the one- and three-meter springboard. Earlier this week Pakhalina was honored for the third consecutive and fifth time this season as the Conference USA Diver of the Week. She also set a season best with 378.95 points on the one-meter springboard.

Sophomore swimmer Kristin Bay took home the only second-place finish for the Cougars in the 500-yard freestyle. Senior Falon Hopkins finished in third behind her.

The Cougars next travel to Indianapolis, Ind., for the Conference USA Championships on Feb. 23.

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