Swimming: Owls Extend Lead At Houston Fall Invitational
11/20/2004
Brittany Massengale swam back-to-back events Saturday and won them both. |
HOUSTON -- True freshman Brittany Massengale won two events and swam the anchor leg of a winning 800-relay as the Rice swim team extended its already sizable lead on the second day of the Houston Fall Invitational Saturday across town at the UH Recreation and Wellness Center Natatorium.
Rice had a 145-point lead after the first day of competition on Friday but extended the margin to 354 after Saturday. The Owls have 918 points while meet host Houston is second with 564. Incarnate Word is third (138) and the University of New Orleans is fourth (129).
Massengale made the most of her first 400-yard IM as an Owl. The freshman from Alma, Ark., led a 1-2-3-4 Rice finish with the fourth-best time (4:25.65) in the Western Athletic Conference this year. Senior Adi Bichman posted a 4:26.11 for second followed by freshman Jennifer Hill (4:34.37) and junior Corrie Kristick (4:44.53).
As if her 400-IM win wasn't enough, Massengale came right back and won the next event, the 200-freestyle, with a season-best time of 1:51.08. The Blue and Gray again took the top four spots and, with strong preliminary races, grabbed seven of the eight lanes in the event's championship final.
Senior Lauren Hill and junior Andrea Hurn went 1-2 in the 100-breaststroke. The Owls had five of the final eight spots for next event, the 100-backstroke, but did not win for the first time in two days of competition. The meet win streak was snapped after 11 events.
The team however bounced back to go 1-2 in the next event, the 800-freestyle relay, to close out the day's competition. The Rice "A" squad won the relay with a time of 7:41.59, but note that the "B" team's mark of 7:42.80 is the third-fastest mark in the WAC this season.
Action in the UH Fall Invitational concludes on Sunday with two sessions. Morning prelims begin at 10 am while evening finals start at 5 pm. Sunday's meet schedule will be the 1,650-yard freestyle, 200-backstroke, 100-freestyle, 200-breaststroke, 200-butterfly and 400-freestyle relay. |
