Massengale Finishes 12th At World Open Water Championships
8/31/2006 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Aug. 31, 2006
NAPLES, Italy -- In her first competition as a member of the United States national team, Rice sophomore Brittany Massengale finished 12th overall in the women's 5,000-meters at the World Open Water Swimming Championships this week in Naples, Italy.
Massengale represented the U.S. against 47 swimmers from 21 nations in the world championship event. She scored for Team USA in the women's 5,000 with a time of 1 hour, 12 minutes, 45 seconds. The Rice standout from Alma, Ark., was named to the country's national team for this event after a series of open water camps and tryouts held over the summer by USA Swimming, the sport's national governing body in the U.S.
Distance races in open water have been added to the list of swimming events for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. This week's World Championships was one of the first international open water events held as a possible precursor to the Olympics.
Players Mentioned
