Rice University
Delta State Invitational
Swimmers Clinch Meet Win At Delta State Invitational
12/21/2009 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Dec. 21, 2009
CLEVELAND, Miss. - The Rice duo of sophomore Alex O'Brien and freshman Danielle Spence both won individual events to pace the Owl swimmers to the team title of the of the Delta State Invitational meet Monday evening (Dec. 21) in Cleveland, Miss.
Spence and O'Brien capped off a successful weekend of action for the Owl swimmers with wins in the mile and 200-yard breaststroke, respectively. With two more individual victories Rice won 10 of the meet's 18 swim events for a total of 907 points. The University of Tampa scored 652.5 points for second place and was followed by New Orleans (518 pts.), meet host Delta State (474 pts.), Incarnate Word (303.5 pts.), and Ark.-Little Rock (181 pts.) in the six team field.
The Owl distance swimmers set the tone by starting the day's action with a 1-2-3 finish in the 1,650-yard freestyle. Spence won the event with a time of 17:23.95 and was followed by Nicole Delaloye (17:35.07) and Karen Gerken (17:37.86). Sarah Korellis was sixth (17:57.53) to lock-up four of the mile's top six spots.
O'Brien and Ashten Ackerman placed first and second, respectively, in the 200-breaststroke. O'Brien touched the wall first with a 2:23.44 while Ackerman registered a 2:25.38. Alexandra Ernst scored for the team with a 2:29.61 to finish seventh overall.
No less than seven Owls scored in the top 16 spots of the 200-butterfly. Angela Wo was second (2:07.26) and Erin Mattson was fourth (2:07.37). Ackerman and Ernst were seventh and eighth respectively while Korellis, Gerken and Spence all scored in the 200-fly's consolation finals.
In the 200-backstroke Stephanie Wei was second (2:04.00) while Kait Chura was third (2:06.34) and Delaloye was sixth (2:11.78). Shelby Bottoms swam season-best 52.66 to take third place in the 100-freestyle. Pam Zelnick was fifth in the 100-free with a time of 53.44.
Rice closed out the meet with a third place in the 400-freestyle relay. The team of Bottoms, Zelnick, Godbe and Wei posted a mark of 3:32.83. A set of the meet's results can be viewed a the above link.
The Owl swimmers have a few weeks until the team's next meet. The Blue & Gray next compete in Dallas at nationally-ranked SMU in a Conference USA dual meet on Jan. 22, 2010. Rice then swims against the University of North Texas in Denton on Jan. 23.
Players Mentioned
