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October 12, 2007 > Sports > Owls look to youth to exceed last season’s impressive finish

Owls look to youth to exceed last season’s impressive finish

By Tracy Dansker | For the Thresher

For most swim teams, starting almost every meet 32 points down before the meet even began would be a bit disheartening. But for Rice, whose lack of a diving team will cost them those 32 points, this disadvantage just adds fuel to its competitive fire.

The Owls travel to their first meet today in Las Cruces, N.M. against the University of Northern Colorado and New Mexico State University before swimming against five teams at the Phill Hansel Duals at the end of this month. However, according to head coach Seth Huston, the toughest meets will come toward the end of the season.

“Our conference meet is undoubtedly kind of big because that’s typically where we want to, at minimum, get second,” Huston said. “We’d like to try to narrow the gap [and] feel like we have a shot at winning it. If all goes well that’s also the place where we expect to qualify people to go to NCAAs.”

Last season ended on the highest of high notes as Rice finished second at the Conference USA Swimming and Diving championships, its best finish in any conference meet since 1976. This year, however, the Owls have a long way to go if they are to expect a repeat performance. The team lost two of its top scorers from conference: Andrea Hurn is no longer eligible and senior Jennifer Hill redshirted after suffering a shoulder injury. With only one other senior on the roster and five freshmen coming in, Rice will field a very young team in 2007.

Junior Diane Gu, one of Rice’s co-captains, said she is not worried about the Owls’ youth. Rather, she said the freshmen have made a positive impression heading into the season.

“They come to practice with a really positive attitude every day and oftentimes they’re leading the lanes,” Gu said. “Coming in as freshmen, they just want to impress us. They want to fit in and they’re doing just that.”

Rice fans will have plenty to look out for this year. The Owls’ lone senior, Brittany Massengale, is also one of the top swimmers in the conference, if not the nation. One year removed from representing the United States at the World Open Water Championships, Massengale took third in the mile and fourth in both the 200- and 400-freestyle at the C-USA championships last season. She will handle the long distance freestyle events for the Owls along with junior Caitlin Warner.

Like Massengale, Warner qualified for the 10-kilometer swim at the 2007 World Open Water Championship Trials later this month. This meet will give them the opportunity to compete for a spot on the U.S. national team that will head to Beijing for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

If the Owls are to make any headway in C-USA this year, Massengale and Warner will have to score big. But Rice is also looking to freshman Karen Gerken, a Texas all-state honoree, to score in distance freestyle. Gu and fellow junior Carlyann Miller will lead the freestyle sprints and may be joined by freshman Sally DeWitt. Other veteran freestylers include juniors Skylar Craig and Keri Hyde and sophomores Megan Land, Stephanie Eberhardt, Pam Zelnick and Erin Mattson.

Mattson, the conference champion in the 200-yard butterfly last year, will lead the butterfly for the Owls again this year. Craig, who took third in the 200-backstroke at the C-USA meet, is also looking to produce for Rice.

The Owls competed well in the backstroke last season, placing four girls in the top nine of the 100-yard and four in the top six of the 200-yard in the conference tournament. Hyde and sophomores Angela Wo and Justine Lin will continue to compete in this event in addition to freshmen Kait Chura and Sarah Korellis. Senior Amy Halsey will miss this season due to a back injury.

The individual medley is by far the most unpredictable event in terms of who will swim. Eberhardt and junior Natalie Kirchoff did well last year, but this may be an event where freshmen dominate — specifically, Chura, Korellis and Ashten Ackerman, all of whom competed in IM in high school.

Considering all of the individual talent, it comes as no surprise that there are great expectations for this year’s relay teams. Both the freestyle and medley relays had good finishes last year and all of those swimmers will be returning this season.

End of article

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