Rice University
Delta State Invitational
Swimmers Zoom To Early Lead At Delta State Invitational Meet
12/19/2009 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Dec. 19, 2009
CLEVELAND, Miss. - The Rice sophomore tandem of Shelby Bottoms and Nicole Delaloye both posted their best individual times of the season to win their respective events, and the Owl relay of Bottoms, Pam Zelnick, Angela Wo and Erin Mattson teamed to claim a victory in the 200-freestyle relay on the opening day of competition Saturday night (Dec. 19) at the annual Delta State Invitational in Cleveland, Miss. By wining three of the swim meet's first five events, the Owls are in the lead of the six-team Invitational with 267 points heading into Sunday's second day of action.
Rice leads the University of Tampa (189 pts.), New Orleans (148.5 pts.), Incarnate Word (133.5), meet host Delta State (116) and Ark.-Little Rock (59) in the six team field.
The Owls were sharp on the way to winning the 200-yard free relay with their best time of the year (1:36.21). Bottoms swam the anchor leg of the winning relay and came back two events later to win the 200-individual medley with a season-best mark of 2:05.46. Rice junior Kait Chura was second in the 200-IM (2:06.87) and freshman Kylee Talwar was fourth (2:08.91) among a field of 27 entrants as both Owls recorded new season-bests.
Delaloye led a 1-2-3 Rice finish in the 500-yard freestyle with a season-best time of 5:03.18. The Owl freshman duo of Stephanie Wei (5:04.77) and Danielle Spence (5:04.89) was second and third, respectively. Junior Karen Gerken finished fifth (5:06.80) while Alex O'Brien won the consolation finals with a 5:07.13 and Sarah Korellis was tenth (5:10.92).
Rice was almost as strong in the day's sprint event, the 50-freestyle, as it was in the rugged 500. Pam Zelnick finished second among a field of 42 entrants with a season-best 24.03. Angela Wo swam a career-best 24.22 for third place while Mattson was fifth with her best time of the year (24.59).
The same Owls that won the sprint relay finished second in the 400-medley relay. Rice notched a 3:53.40 in the event for its best time of the season.
Saturday's action was only the first of three full days of competition at the Invitational. Meet results can be viewed at the above link. The remaining meet schedule is as follows, with preliminary events in the afternoon and finals in the evening.
Sun., Dec. 20
200 Medley Relay
400 Individual Medley
100 Butterfly
200 Freestyle
100 Breaststroke
100 Backstroke
800 Freestyle Relay
Mon., Dec. 21
1,650 Freestyle
200 Backstroke
100 Freestyle
200 Breaststroke
200 Butterfly
400 Freestyle Relay
Players Mentioned
