The Rice Thresher

Location: http://the.ricethresher.org/sports/2007/01/26/swimming_beats_the_u

January 26, 2007 > Sports > Swimming defeats Miami to win final home meet of season

Swimming defeats Miami to win final home meet of season

By Taylor Johnson | Thresher Editorial Staff

Building on the success of their last two dual-meets, the swim team came out ahead of the University of Miami (Fla.) in their final home meet of the season Friday at the Rice pool. The win gave the Owls an 8-5 record for dual meets this season. The team displayed a strong overall performance, placing first in 10 of the dual-meet’s 14 events, which resulted in tallied scores of 159-103 in the non-conference event.

The meet featured many tight races, not all of which ended in the Owls’ favor. The 400-yard medley, which started the meet, ended disappointingly for Rice, even though the Owls led for most of the race. The Owls’ ‘A’ team, consisting of freshman Pam Zelnick and sophomores Keri Hyde, Skylar Craig and Diane Gu, finished in 3 minutes 57.52 seconds, a mere 0.04 seconds behind the Hurricanes’ 3:57.48. As the season begins to wind down, Rice will need to win close races like this one if they hope to be victorious in upcoming competitions, especially the Conference USA Championships Feb. 14-17.

However, Rice was able to recover from this first setback, rallying to clinch first in 10 of the remaining 13 events.

The highest individual point earners of the meet were sophomore Carly Miller with 22, junior Brittany Massengale with 18 and freshman Erin Mattson with 18, each of whom earned first in two events. Miller won the 50-yard freestyle in 24.08 seconds, as well as her next event, the 100-yard freestyle, in 52.56. Despite a shoulder injury, Massengale was able to take first ahead of Miller in the 200-yard freestyle. Mattson continued to show her prowess in the butterfly, winning the 200-yard race in 2:07.59, over 2 seconds ahead of her closest contender, Miami’s Katie Eason. She returned a few events later and grabbed first in the 100-yard butterfly at 58.56, this time topping Eason’s second place finish of 59.21 by 0.65 seconds. With these wins, Mattson continues her impressive win streak — she has taken first place in at least one event since Rice’s Dec. 2 meet at Texas A&M University.

Miller and Mattson, along with Craig and Gu, also helped contribute 11 more points with a victory in the 400-yard freestyle relay in 3:34.07.

The Owls compete again today and tomorrow in Baton Rouge, Louis. at the Louisiana State University Natatorium against cross-town rival University of Houston and Southeastern Conference power LSU. Houston has won four of its last five dual meets, while LSU has dropped three of its last four.

This meet will be the swim team’s last competition before the C-USA Championships in mid-February, and the swimmers recognize how tough this contest will be. “The LSU meet is more competitive,” Massengale said. “LSU swims well, and it will come down to the last event.”

LSU has beaten the Owls the past two years (61-50, 196-151), and Houston came out just ahead of the Owls (176-171) in the teams’ last meeting at the Phill Hansel Duals Weekend Nov. 3-4.

End of article

Back to top