The Rice Thresher

Location: http://the.ricethresher.org/sports/2006/03/03/swimmer_fourth_cusa

March 3, 2006 > Sports > Swimmers make waves at C-USA meet

Swimmers make waves at C-USA meet

By Brian Mothersole | Thresher staff

Despite a great start, a third-day surge and several NCAA provisionally qualifying performances, the swim team finished fourth in last week’s Conference USA Swimming and Diving Championships at the University of Houston. Nevertheless, several Owls posted strong times at the conference meet.

Sophomore Brittany Massengale placed third in the 500-yard freestyle, breaking Cari Miller’s 12-year-old Rice record by finishing in 4 minutes, 49.93 seconds. Massengale would later go on to place fourth in the 1,650 freestyle with a time of 16:35.86. The 200-yard freestyle relay team of senior Laura Healey, freshman Diane Gu, freshman Skylar Craig and freshman Carlyann Miller also posted a school-record time, taking second place in 1:32.94. All of these times were enough to provisionally qualify for the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, which will be held March 16-18 at Athens, Ga.

Gu was among the other Rice swimmers to provisionally qualify for nationals in individual events, swimming a personal-best 22.78 in the 50 freestyle. Craig’s 2:01.28 in the 200 backstroke was also good enough to provisionally qualify.

Rice finished with 540.5 points, well behind champion Southern Methodist University’s 846. However, the point totals are not reflective of the Owls’ performance, because the team was second in the swimming events but fourth when diving scores were considered.

“Fourth place is kind of disappointing, but we raced well and swam good enough for second place, which was what we were hoping for,” sophomore Jennifer Hill said. “While it would have been nice to have been officially second place, we’re proud of how we swam and how well we did.”

Rice began the meet in spectacular fashion, scoring 66 points in the first day. Sophomore Amy Halsey, junior Andrea Hurn, Craig and Gu placed third in the 200-yard medley in 1:44.40, a season best and just short of the school record set last year. In the 800 freestyle relay, Miller, Massengale, sophomore Carey Hain and freshman Caitlin Warner swam in 7:24.62, eight hundredths of a second behind the school record set in 2002.

In the second day of the meet, Miller turned in a personal-best time in the 500 freestyle, placing sixth overall with a time of 4:57.25.

The Owls also did well on Friday, behind second-place finishes from Hill and Halsey in the 400 individual medley and the 100 backstroke, respectively. The NCAA-qualifying 200 freestyle relay team recorded a season-best time of 1:32.94, and in the 400 individual medley, Massengale finished in 4:26.94 and tied for fourth. Adding to Halsey’s success in the 100-backstroke, Craig claimed fourth and Healey fifth with times of 57.60 and 57.78.

Craig added to her earlier scores with a fifth-place finish in the 100 butterfly. Finishing out the surge for the day were Miller with an eighth-place finish in the 200 freestyle, Hurn’s seventh place in the 100 breaststroke and Hain’s winning the 200 freestyle.

The Owls ended on a strong note with Healey, Miller, Craig and Gu putting up a school-record time of 3:22.03 in the 400-freestyle relay Saturday. The Owls were also successful in the 100 freestyle — Gu provisionally qualified on the basis of her sixth-place finish in 50.69.

End of article

Back to top