Rice University
Indiana Invitational
Miller Takes Second In 200-Freestyle At Indiana Invitational
11/18/2006 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Nov. 18, 2006
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Sophomore sprinter Carlyann Miller finished second among 46 entrants in the 200-yard freestyle and the Owls' 800-free relay team was second out of a field of 17 to lead the Rice swimmers on the second day of competition at the Indiana University Invitational Saturday evening in Bloomington, Ind. Four other Owls, including three freshmen, reached the consolation finals of individual events. There is no team scoring for the meet which concludes Sunday at the IU campus.
Miller posted a career-best time of 1:50.73 to notch the Owls' highest individual finish at the three-day meet. She qualified sixth in the morning prelims (1:53.16) then stayed among the top three for the first half of the finals. The standout from Fort Gibson, Okla., raced into second place with the fastest intermediate time on her third 50 and hung on for the last quarter. Louisville's Melanie Greyling, a junior from South Africa, won the race with with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 1:49.45.
Miller had the right kind of lead-in to the championship final when her teammate Brittany Massengale won the 200's consolation final in the race before. Massengale recorded a season-best mark of 1:52.50 for the victory, which was actually the meet's fifth-best time in the event including even the morning preliminary round. The junior from Alma, Ark., was in sixth place and almost two seconds off the lead at the halfway point of the race when she made her move and chased down the leaders.
The Owls' freshmen trio of Erin Mattson, Justine Lin and Pam Zelnick also had success in Saturday's consolation finals. Zelnick finished second in the consolation finals of the 100-breaststroke with an eye-opening 1:05.24. The time is the fifth-fastest mark in school history and the Owls' best time in the event in the last five years. Lin was second in the 100-backstroke consols, and tenth overall out of a field of 39 with a mark of 59.08. Mattson made the consols in the 100-butterfly and was 14th overall (58.98).
The Blue and Gray closed out the day's action with a solid second place showing in the team's first attempt at the in the 800-free relay this year. The Rice foursome of Zelnick, Massengale, Miller and Caitlin Warner raced to a time of 7:30.27. With a steady race from each member of the foursome, Miller logged a 200-time of 1:50.31 from her spot as the relay's anchor leg.
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. The meet wraps-up Sunday with the following list of events.
Indiana University Invitational (Bloomington, Ind.)
Nov. 19 (Sun.) Schedule
Nov. 19 -- Sunday
1,650-yard Freestyle
200-yard Backstroke
100-yard Freestyle
200-yard Breaststroke
200-yard Butterfly
Platform Diving
400-yard Freestyle Relay
Players Mentioned
