Swimming: 25th-Ranked Owls Ready For NCAA Championships
3/14/2001 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
The 200-yard freestyle relay team of senior Kim Maher, juniors Rachel Armstrong and Katie Hermann and sophomore Mandy Mularz became the first Rice relay team to qualify for the NCAA meet with the 12th-fastest time in the nation. The foursome broke their own school record by a second-and-a-half with a time of 1:31.55 at last month's Western Athletic Conference Championships in San Antonio.
Mularz clocked a 22.96 in the 50 freestyle at the WAC meet, the 21st-ranked time nationally, to qualify for the NCAA meet individually. Hermann will also compete in the 50 freestyle, and Armstrong will enter the 50, 100 and 200 freestyles. The squad has the option of swimming the 800 freestyle relay, but it will be a meet-time decision due to Mularz's elbow injury suffered in San Antonio.
Rice Swimming earned its first-ever national ranking when the Owls moved into the No. 25 spot in the College Swimming Coaches Association of America Pre-NCAA Poll released on March 8.
The 200 freestyle relay is the first event and the 50 freestyle is the fourth event on Thursday. The 200 freestyle is the fourth event on Friday, and the 100 freestyle is the second event on Saturday.
The preliminaries begin at 11 a.m. each day, followed by the finals at 7 p.m. The meet will be televised by ESPN on tape delay March 23 at 2 p.m.