HOUSTON Texas – Washington State finished out the final day of the Houston Invite in third place and posted a total of 26 Top 10 times over the span of the three days. Strong performances from Lauren Burckel, Mia Zahab, Kate Laderoute, Taylor McCoy, and Chloe Larson helped solidify the Cougars third place finish.

"We had good swims across the board, we did a really good job with our energy levels, coming back after prelims and getting faster in the finals. I am excited about the amount of growth the team has done compared to last year." Said Coach Matt Leach "Overall we had 26 Top 10 times which is more than last year. We are going to see what we can take from this meet and improve on with the focus being on Pac-12s."

The third and final day of the Houston Invite started the Cougars off on a high note, Taylor McCoy finished in second place, fellow teammate Kate Laderoute recorded a new Top 10 time for WSU in the 200 back. Later on in the finals it was Taylor McCoy's turn to post a new Top 10 record still holding the second place slot on the list but getting closer to the school record, Laderoute improved her time as well jumping into four place.

Following the 200 back, it was time for the fast paced 100 freestylers. Advancing to the finals was Chloe Larson, Emily Barrier, Payton Bokowy, and Kieana Fountaine where all four girls posted in season personal best times. Larson did not slow down going into the finals, she posted the second fastest time in the Top 10 list, moving up from the sixth place she originally had.

Washington State continued the trend of posting WSU All Time Top 10 times with Mia Zahab in the 200 fly. Zahab made her third appearance in the Top 10 landing her in the sixth place overall. Zahab did not stop there, in the finals of the 200 fly she improved from the morning race to move up to the fourth spot overall and place third in her heat.

The Cougars continued on their hot streak in the 200 breast prelims. Lauren Burckel improved her time to keep her spot in the WSU All Time Top 10 record and was able to advance to the finals along with teammate Mackenzie Duarte. Burckel stayed on fire in the afternoon, in the finals Burckel posted an improved time to get her to the second spot on the Top 10 list.  

The final event of the morning was the 200 fly, Mia Zahab stayed hot recording a new WSU All Time Top 10 record putting her in the sixth spot on the list. Zahab was also able to qualify for finals where she ended up taking third in her heat and improved her time from the morning landing her in the second place slot.