Houston’s Ioanna Sacha Posts Greek Record in the LCM 200 Back at Houston Invite

UH Invite (Houston, Rice, North Texas)

• Saturday, Febraury 13th, 2021
• Campus Recreation and Wellness Center, Houston, TX
• SCY & LCM
• SCY Results
• LCM Results
• Unscored

Houston hosted a First Chance meet on Saturday, offering a SCY and LCM sessions. Along with the Cougars, Rice traveled to the meet, and a few North Texas swimmers as well.

Ioanna Sacha (Houston) clocked a personal best in the LCM 200 backstroke, swimming a 2:12.64. The swim shaved .20 seconds off her previous best of 2:12.84, which stood as the Greek national record in the event. Sacha had swum her previous best of 2:12.84 exactly one year ago. Sacha also swam the SCY 200 back, clocking a 1:55.82.

Houston’s Mykenzie Leehy was dominant in the SCY 100 free, clocking a 49.08 to lead the field by over 2 seconds. The swim was just off Leehy’s season best of 49.00, and roughly half a second off her lifetime best of 48.66, which she swam in November of 2019.

Rice’s Brittany Bui won the SCY 200 fly with a 1:59.91, winning the race by nearly 3 seconds. Bui’s time marks a season best, and the top time in the C-USA this season, as we head into championship season. Bui has a personal best of 1:57.60 from November 2019. Bui also won the SCY 100 fly with a 55.10.

Rice’s Zoe Spitz also swam a Conference USA-leading time in the SCY 200 backstroke, finishing 2nd with a 1:58.30. The swim was also a massive personal best for Spitz, who had previously held a top mark of 2:00.94.

Houston’s Katie Power posted a 23.28 to win the SCY 50 free.

PRESS RELEASE – HOUSTON:

HOUSTON – The University of Houston Swimming & Diving concluded its regular season against Rice and North Texas at the Campus Recreation & Wellness Center on Saturday.

The first half of the meet competed in Long Course Meters and was highlighted by an Olympic Trial Wave I qualifying time from Mykenzie Leehy. The Cougar senior closed out the 100 LCM Freestyle with a time of 56.09.

Ioanna Sacha opened up the SCY portion of the meet for the Cougars with a top-finish in the 200 Back at 1:55.82. The time marked the Cougars first D1 B-Cut of the day.

Minutes later in the 100 Freestyle, Mykenzie Leehy paced the Cougars with a time of 49.08, UH’s second NCAA qualifying time of the day. Rachel Hicks placed second in the event at 51.25 to help the Cougars take the top two spots.

Laura Garcia Marin paced the Cougars in the 200 Individual Medley. She clocked a time of 2:04.63 for first-place and was trailed by Sophie Anderson who finished at 2:06.79 in fourth-place.

In the 50 Free Kathryn Power led the field, touching in at 23.28, followed by Hannah Farmer in second-place at 24.05. Powers earned her second first-place finish of the day in the 200 Free, clocking in at 1:49.74. She was trailed by Rachel Hicks with a second-place finish at 1:50.42.

Audrey McKinnon paced UH in the 100 Breast with a time of 1:03.53, taking second-overall in the event.

On the boards, Houston had a great day as the Cougars took the top-six places in the 3-Meter. Emilia Waters led Uh with a score of 313.20, followed by Makayla Wallar in second-place (296.62) and Chase Farris in third (288.60). Katie Deininger finished in fourth-place with a total score of 286.42, followed by Hedda Grelz in fifth-place (284.10) and Jolie Blodgett in sixth-place (280.35).

In the 1-Meter, Waters led UH again with a score of 260.70 for first-place in the event. Wallar finished third with a score of 253.50.

Chase Farris won the Platform, leading the field by almost 30 points. She compiled a score of 270.07. Grelz secured a second-place finish with a score of 243.97, followed by Blodgett in third (222.75).

UP NEXT
Houston will look to the postseason when it sets out to defend its conference title at the 2021 American Athletic Conference Championships in Dallas.

Due to the threat of severe weather the conference championships originally scheduled for Feb. 18-20 at the Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center/Barr-McMillion Natatorium in Dallas have been postponed to Feb. 21-23.

PRESS RELEASE – RICE:

Rice’s Brittany Bui and Zoe Spitz posted the best marks in Conference USA this season in the 200-yard butterfly and 200-backstroke, respectively, to lead a sound and solid day of racing for the Owl swimmers at the annual First Chance Meet Friday across town at the University of Houston Rec Center Natatorium.

With the meet serving as a final competitive tune-up for the upcoming conference championships, there was no team scoring Saturday between four competing schools (Rice, Houston, North Texas and Tulane). The focus was to treat the meet as a rehearsal for conference in a time-trials structure. The results were certainly promising.

Both Bui and Spitz blazed to what could earn each of the Owls the No. 1 seed in their respective specialties at the C-USA Championships. Spitz dropped almost two seconds off her previous season best for a 1:58.30 in the 200-backstroke. Bui won the SCY’s 200-fly with a C-USA best 1:59.91. It’s also one of her best marks since registering the second fastest 200-fly in school history (1:57.60) in her junior year.

Other Rice winners included senior Nicole Limberg sweeping both SCY breaststroke events and the LCM 100-breaststroke. Freshman Mimi Filkin won the 100-backstroke (58.78) and Shannon Campbell won the 500-freestyle with a season best 4:56.60.

Owl head coach Seth Huston liked what he saw of the team lowering times and winning races, particularly from different Owls across the roster. He also has his eye on the bigger picture – competing in two weeks at the C-USA Championships. Saturday’s First Chance Meet proved to be a great test run.

“Overall, I was pleased with what the team did today,” said Rice head coach Seth Huston. “This was a tune up opportunity to rehearse race strategies and take care of ourselves and what is within our control.”

“Brittany looked her best of the season and Zoe had a real breakthrough 200-backstroke pushing her pace sooner,” coach Huston said. “Madison Howe surprised everyone with a personal best and top time among the Owls today in the 200-free. Our non conference performers led the way today. Adalyn Armistead blasted a life time best 400-IM and senior Mimi Baker had a lifetime best in her final collegiate event.

For all the improved performances, the short-course yards meet was only half the story. There was also a series of events in long-course meters. The Owls’ international standouts: Lauren Brantley, Rocio Clement, Sini Koivu, Imogen Meers and Marta Cano-Minarro delivered there as well. Sophomore Ahalya Lettenberger continued her long course prep work for Tokyo 2021 by swimming in the 100-free (1:16.15) and 400-free (5:26.61).

The First Chance tune-up is complete. The Rice swim team next competes at annual C-USA Championships in Atlanta from Feb. 26-29 (Wednesday-Saturday). The conference meet will be held at the Georgia Tech Swim Center that hosted the 1996 Olympics.