Rice University
Indiana Invitational
Massengale, Miller & Gu Lead Rice Owls At Indiana Invitational
11/17/2006 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Rice junior distance specialist Brittany Massengale (Sid Richardson) took third place in the 500-yard freestyle and the sophomore sprinting tandem of Carlyann Miller (Baker) and Diane Gu (Brown) finished sixth and seventh in the championship final of the 50-freestyle as the Owls' wrapped-up the first of the three days of competition at the Indiana University Swimming Invitational Friday evening in Bloomington, Ind.
There was no team scoring in the meet, but the Owls recorded some of their best individual times this season. Massengale logged her best time of the year, 4:54.54, to take third in the rugged 500 among a field of 44 entrants. Junior Caitlin Warner (Will Rice) improved on her morning preliminaries to finish 13th in the event with a time of 5:02.53.
Miller finished sixth in the 50-free with a time of 24.00 while Gu touched-in seventh with a close 24.02. In the morning prelims Gu posted one of the best times in Conference USA this season with a 23.85. Sophomore Skylar Craig (Sid Richardson) tallied a 24.84 in the meet's bonus final.
Rice welcomed the return to competitive action of junior Amy Halsey (Baker) who had been sidelined from racing the last four weeks. The standout from Katy did not make the finals in the 200-individual medley (2:12.00), but her return for the backstroke events is a key for the team. Junior Jennifer Hill (Lovette) was the Owls' top performer in the 200-IM, recording a 2:10.05 in the morning prelims.
Rice used a slightly different lineup of Miller, Craig, Pam Zelnick (Hanszen) and Gu for the 200-freestyle relay, but the group was sound and solid with a fourth place time of 1:35.75. The Owls were ninth in the 400-medley relay with a time of 3:56.90.
The Invitational is a scaled-down version of the Conference USA and NCAA Championships to be held in the spring. The meet features 18 swimming events, including five relays, with three diving events. Prelim and finals are posted live on the world wide web through a link on RiceOwls.com. Saturday's list of events is as follows.
Indiana University Invitational (Bloomington, Ind.)
Nov. 18 (Sat.) Schedule
200-yard Medley Relay
400-yard Individual Medley
100-yard Butterfly
200-yard Freestyle
100-yard Breaststroke
100-yard Backstroke
800-yard Freestyle Relay
Three-meter Diving
Players Mentioned
