Rice University
C-USA Championships
Owls Hold Second At C-USA Championships
2/15/2007 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Day Two Results
Conference USA Swim Championship Headquarters
Schedule of events pdf
The Rice foursome of Keri Hyde, Pam Zelnick, Skylar Craig and Carlyann Miller won the Conference USA event title in the 400-yard medley relay Friday evening at the University of Houston to keep the Owl swimmers firmly in second place in the overall team standings through the first two days of the league's four-day championship meet.
SMU, the event's defending champion from a year ago, originally touched in first place in the race to close out the evening session. The Mustangs, however, were disqualified (along with fifth-place finisher Marshall) for leaving the starting block too early during one of the three relay exchanges. The Owls' foursome, which posted a second place time of 3:48.02, were declared the winners after the disqualification. The relay teams from East Carolina and meet host Houston were both elevated to co-second place status after posting a rare tie in the event with identical times of 3:50.54.
The Owls' 400-medley relay team is the swim program's first event championship in a conference meet since 2003 when the Owls were a member of the Western Athletic Conference. Closing out the session with the first place points kept the Blue & Gray in second place in the league standings. SMU still holds a comfortable lead in the meet with 298 points. The Owls are next with 212 points, a full 20 points ahead of crosstown rival Houston (192) and 30 ahead of East Carolina (182). Marshall is in fifth place with 105 points.
Even without the relay the Owls still had plenty of individual success to go around. Sophomores Diane Gu and Carlyann Miller won the C-USA silver and bronze medals, respectively, in the 50-yard freestyle with times of 23.26 and 23.31. Freshman Megan Land scored for the team in the 50-free with an eleventh place finish after a season-best mark of 24.53 in the preliminary round.
Junior Brittany Massengale and sophomore Caitlin Warner were fourth and sixth, respectively in the rugged 500-yard freestyle. Massengale was a little short of her existing school record, but the standout from Alma, Ark., still posted a season-best time of 4:51.94. Warner chased down an opponent for a career-best 5:00.29. Zelnick won the consolation finals to take ninth with a career-best mark of 5:00.04.
Two Owls also reached the championship finals of the 200-individual medley. Junior Jennifer Hill was seventh after a season-best time of 2:06.35 in the prelims. The team's lone senior, Andrea Hurn, was eighth following a season-best 2:07.81 in the prelims. True freshman Erin Mattson was 11th overall. She had career-best 2:08.67 in the morning round.
The 2007 C-USA Women's Swimming and Diving Championship continues Friday at UH Natatorium with prelims beginning at 10 am. Finals are slated for 6 pm. Results will be posted daily on www.RiceOwls.com. The remaining schedule of events is as follows...
2007 C-USA Swimming & Diving Championship Schedule
FRI., FEBRUARY 16
Preliminaries - 10 am
400-Yard Individual Medley
100-Yard Butterfly
200-Yard Freestyle
100-Yard Breaststroke
100-Yard Backstroke
Diving Preliminaries - 1 pm
3-Meter (Men)
1-Meter (Women)
Finals - 6 pm
200-Yard Freestyle Relay
1-Meter Diving (Women)
400-Yard Individual Medley
100-Yard Butterfly
3-Meter Diving (Men)
200-Yard Freestyle
100-Yard Breaststroke
100-Yard Backstroke
SAT., FEBRUARY 17
Preliminaries - 10 am
200-Yard Backstroke
100-Yard Freestyle
200-Yard Breaststroke
200-Yard Butterfly
1,650-Yard Freestyle
Diving Preliminaries - 1 pm
Platform (Men & Women)
Finals - 6 pm
1,650-Yard Freestyle
Platform Diving (Women)
200-Yard Backstroke
100-Yard Freestyle
200-Yard Breaststroke
200-Yard Butterfly
Platform Diving (Men)
Players Mentioned
