Swimming: Owls Defeat Houston 168-124 In Season-Opening Dual Meet
10/16/2004
Senior Urska Ros won two events and swam on a winning Owl relay. |
HOUSTON -- Four Rice swimmers, seniors Lauren Hill, Jane Keith, and Urska Ros and true freshman Brittany Massengale, won two events each to pace the Owls to a convincing 168-124 dual meet road win over crosstown rival Houston Saturday afternoon at the Cougars' Recreation and Wellness Center Natatorium.
The Blue and Gray swimmers won ten of the meet's first 13 events, including 1-2-3 finishes in the 100-yard freestyle, 100-butterfly and 100-breaststroke to hold a 159-83 lead late in the contest. By the end of the day Rice swam the final 400-freestyle relay as an exhibition and passed on both of the day's springboard diving events, but the team still had more than enough room to win its opening meet of the 2004-05 season.
In fact, the Blue and Gray might have been a little too anxious to get the season under way. One of the Rice relay teams in the opening 400-medley was disqualified for a false start that gave Houston a relay advantage, two teams to one. On a restart of the event, the lone Owl relay team of Hill, Ros, senior Laura Healey and true freshman Amy Halsey, stayed focused and beat both the remaining UH squads with a time of 3:55.58.
With a relay win under their belts, Hill posted wins in both the 100- and 200-breaststroke while Ros took the 100-fly and 100-free. Healey led a 1-2 Rice finish in the 50-free with a solid time of 24.07. True freshman Carey Hain, a standout from nearby Kingwood, was also sharp in the event with runner-up mark of 24.21.
Brittany Massengale, another of the Owls' heralded freshman class, won the 200-free (1:51.85) and the rugged 500 (4:55.53). Senior Jane Keith rounded out Rice's multiple winners with victories in the both the 100- and 200-backstroke. Rice head coach Seth Huston said the team not only passed the first test, but he would be willing to give a high grade for the effort.
"We did a really nice job today," Huston said. "I thought the 50-free was great and Lauren Hill had some nice times for this point of the year. Jane did well in the backstroke and I would have to say I was impressed with the freshman in their first college meet.
"It's early, so we really didn't attack the distance events like we could have," Huston added, "We broke up some of the distance events to try and conserve a little for the upcoming meets. (Senior distance specialist) Adi Bichman swam well today in the 200-fly and IM, but we just had her outside her events."
Rice (1-0) will compete in meets each of the next two weekends. The Owls will be at the SMU Classic in Dallas on Oct. 22-23. The team will then host the Hilton/TYR Invitational at the Rice Pool on Oct. 29-30. |
