Swimming: Rice Hosts Top 25 Foes in Continental Airlines Classic
11/9/2000 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Rice hosts No. 2 California, No. 9 Michigan, No. 22 Penn State, Illinois and Missouri. The Owls were defeated in their first two meets of the season at North Carolina State and at No. 9 North Carolina, but Katie Scholl got off to a strong start in the 1,000 free and Rachel Armstrong won the 100 and 200 freestyle events against UNC. Beth Williams also started out well in the breaststroke and individual medley events.
Cal is fresh off a defeat to two-time defending NCAA champion Georgia and feature Haley Cope, who turned in the fourth-best time in the 100 backstroke last year.
Olympic gold medalist Samantha Arsenault headlines the Michigan roster. Arsenault teamed with Diana Munz, Lindsay Benko and Jenny Thompson to set a new Olympic record in the 800-meter freestyle relay in Sydney, Australia. The Wolverines have faced tough competition in losses to No. 9 UNC and No. 14 Wisconsin.
Leslie Hoh, who turned in a top 25 time in the 400 IM last year, leads Missouri, which opened the season with impressive wins over Arkansas and Kansas.
All-American Jessica Aveyard, who posted the ninth-best time in the 200 back last year, leads Illinois (3-1), whose only loss is to No. 25 Indiana. Christina Stocki, who also posted a top 25 time in the 200 back last year, will lead Penn State, which took care of Villanova in its first meet of the season.
More than 30 Olympic Trial qualifiers will compete this weekend. Also, many of this weekend's participants recorded top 25 times last year.