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February 23, 2007 > Sports > Swimming finishes second at Conference USA championships

Swimming finishes second at Conference USA championships

By Taylor Johnson | Thresher Editorial Staff

With its best conference performance in team history, the swim team finished in second place at last week’s Conference USA championships at the University of Houston Health and Recreation Center Natatorium. The Owls’ 653.5 score was the highest tally in the program’s 24-year history, 70 points over their previous record of 582.5, set in 2000. However, it was not quite high enough to take the conference crown, as 12-ranked Southern Methodist University ran away from the crowd with an 853-point tally.

Head coach Seth Huston said the finish was the perfect culmination to the season.

“All year we’ve been looking for the team to really come together and do it all at the same meet,” he said. “We’ve had a good season, but we just haven’t all done it at the same time. [The swimmers] created the atmosphere and the momentum to [set the record], so again, that was something we’ve been working on all year.”

Freshman Erin Mattson amped Rice’s scoring with a breakthrough performance in the 200-yard butterfly. Mattson took first in the race with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 2 minutes 1.94 seconds, edging SMU freshman Justine Clark by just 0.02 seconds. The last time the Owls earned first in an event at a conference final was in 2003, when Mandy Mularz (Wiess ‘04) and Lauren Hill (Martel ‘05) each won Western Athletic Conference titles in the freestyle and breaststroke, respectively. Mattson also earned seventh in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 56.92.

“Erin’s swim was pretty awesome,” Huston said. “She swam the race pretty aggressively, probably a little more aggressive than what I would suggest her to do, but it worked for her. When it comes down to it, that was a race where she wanted it more than anyone else.”

Rice’s relays added heavily to the team’s success at conference. The 400-yard medley relay team, consisting of Zelnick and sophomores Keri Hyde, Skylar Craig and Carlyann Miller, won the heat at of 3:48.02. The 800-yard freestyle relay of Miller, Mattson, Massengale and sophomore Caitlin Warner also performed admirably, taking second place for the Owls with a time of 7:25.79, 15.38 seconds after SMU had touched. The Owls’ 200-yard medley relay team of Hyde, Zelnick, Craig and sophomore Diane Gu were nearly victorious in 1:43.77, trailing only SMU’s first place finish of 1:41.03.

Several of the team’s top performers shrugged off injuries and illnesses to compete against their conference rivals. Long distance specialist junior Brittany Massengale had been nursing a shoulder injury, but still placed fourth in the 500-yard freestyle championship in 4:51.94. Massengale also took fourth in the 200-yard freestyle in 1:49.70 and third in the 1650-yard freestyle in 16:41.68, qualifying provisionally for the NCAA tournament in each event. Freshman Pam Zelnick was ill at the meet as well, yet still managed to earn seventh in the 100-yard breaststroke championship in 1:06.01, as well as reaching the finals in two relays.

As the conference championships come to a close, the Owls have at most two competitions remaining this season. While several swimmers have provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships March 8-10 in Minneapolis, Minn., they must earn faster times if they hope to actually compete.

“We have a number of people who have made provisional qualifying times, but those times won’t get them into the NCAAs,” Huston said.

This weekend, the team has one last chance to qualify swimmers for nationals, as the Owls travel to the American Short Course Championships at the University of Texas Natatorium in Austin.

Regardless of how they finish the season, the Owls are already looking toward the future, with next year’s training and recruiting efforts underway. Thus far, three recruits have signed for next season: Ashten Ackerman from Kissimmee, Fla. and Hannah Chura of Bozeman, Mont. both signed last semester on Nov. 20, as well as a third recruit whose name was unavailable. With only one senior, Andrea Hurn, graduating in May, and an especially strong class of freshmen and sophomores this season, the Owls will have many key returning swimmers next year in addition to these strong newcomers.

“We only graduate one, we have only lost one other swimmer that would’ve returned otherwise, and then we’ve got three recruits as of right now,” Huston said. “For next year, it’s looking promising.”

End of article

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