Nov. 28, 2007

HOUSTON - The University of Houston swimming and diving team returns to action this weekend after a lengthy layoff but will do so in different locations.

The swimmers open competition at the Miami (Ohio) Invitational in Oxford, Ohio, while the divers are scheduled to compete at the Texas Invitational in Austin. Both meets begin Thursday and end Saturday.

The divers will take part on the 3-meter Thursday, the 1-meter Friday and the platform Saturday. The 3-meter preliminaries are scheduled to begin at 2:45 p.m., Thursday, with 40 divers competing. Finals are slated for 6:15 p.m., Thursday.

On Friday, the divers will compete in the 1-meter preliminaries at 12:30 p.m., with the finals to start at 5:15 p.m.

The divers wrap up their stay on the platform, beginning at 12:30 p.m., Saturday.

The Cougars are scheduled to compete against No. 4 Arizona, No. 3 Stanford, No. 17 Arizona State, No. 19 Wisconsin, No. 12 SMU, Nebraska, TCU, UNLV and No. 16 Texas.

Fans can follow live stats from the Texas Invitational here.

On the swimming side, the Cougars will square off against Cleveland State, Denison, Marshall, Oakland, Cincinnati, Wright State, Truman State, Emory, Florida Gulf Coast, Illinois-Chicago Circle and Miami (Ohio).

That meet begins at 6 p.m., Thursday, with the finals of the 1,650-yard freestyle and 800-yard freestyle relay. On Friday and Saturday, preliminaries begin at 10 a.m. each day with the finals slated to start around 6 p.m.

Junior Sasha Schwendenwein has been a steady performer for the Cougars throughout the fall season, posting the team's top times in the 50-, 100-, 200- and 500-yard freestyle events.

Fellow junior Andrea Pa'lmai is tops in the 1,000-yard freestyle and is the Cougars' leading competitor in the 200-yard backstroke, 200-yard breaststroke and both the 200- and 400-yard individual medley.

Competing in her first collegiate season, freshman Andrea Kells has posted the Cougars' best times in the 100- and 200-yard butterfly events.

This weekend's meet will be the first competition for the Cougars since sweeping Florida International and Indian River Community College on Nov. 3.

The divers come into this weekend's meet as the most recent competitors after playing host to the Houston Diving Invitational on Nov. 15-17. The Cougars lived up to their reputation as one of the nation's top collegiate programs, winning top honors in all three events against Kansas and Arizona.

Senior captain Ginni van Katwijk finished first on the 1-meter springboard and platform, while freshman Courtney Forcucci won the 3-meter event. Combined with freshmen Lacey Truelove, the Cougar trio finished among the Top Four leaders in all three events.

A year ago, the Cougars finished seventh at the Miami (Ohio) Invitational, scoring 714.5 points.