Swimmers Host U.H. Friday At 4 PM
10/14/2010 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
Oct. 14, 2010
It may not be for the Bayou Bucket or the Silver Glove Trophy, but the Owls on the Rice swim team say competing against the crosstown rival Cougars is a big meet for the program.
Rice swimming hosts U.H. on Friday (Oct. 15) at the Gibbs Recreation & Wellness Center Competition Pool beginning at 4 pm. It's the first of four eventual meetings with Houston, culminating at the annual Conference USA Championships in February. Rice swims at U.H.'s Invitational meet next month. Both teams are scheduled to compete at an LSU meet in Baton Rouge in January.
A competition against your crosstown rival is one thing, but Friday's swim meet has one added dimension. For the first time in years, U.H. is making the trip to swim at Rice. Since the Owls moved into the fantastic aquatics facility at the Gibbs Recreation & Wellness Center a year ago, both school's have excellent venues to host meets. Rice head coach Seth Huston, now in his ninth year at the helm of the Owls' program, said the team considers the meets with Houston to be among the bigger events on the schedule. Hosting U.H., however, will be a little different.
"I think that was the 2002-03 season," Huston said of the Cougars' last visit to South Main. "We have a friendly rivalry. It is a natural rivalry since we swim at several of the same meets each year and finish the season at C-USA Championships."
It's in the best interest of the sport to have the city's two colleges showcase the top town's top swimmers in a meet. There are 11 events on the schedule for Friday, including six relays. Only six of the events are ones that will be contested at the NCAA Championships in the spring, the others are some untraditional races teams usually hold in the fall portion of the schedule. Because of the five untraditional races, Friday's meet will not be scored. The finishes and times of the six regular events will be reported to the conference office as usual.
The Owls opened the season last week at Boise State and dropped both ends of a two-day meet against the defending Western Athletic Conference champions. Huston stated a closer look at last week's results may be in order as the team wasn't at full health, and some on the swimmers missed the meet completely. Sophomore Kylee Talwar, who missed almost all of last season with an injury, swam well at Boise State. Friday will be the first meet of the year for senior Kait Chura, the Conference USA silver medalist in the 200-yard backstroke. It will be the first meet in almost two years for sophomore Louise Gliga, who when Rice last saw her she had won the 200-butterfly over a field of more than 30 competitors a the Nebraska Cornhusker Invitational. That meet was in 2008.
"Last week we lost three freshmen to the flu, but in general we are doing pretty well health-wise, with one exception," Huston said. "So far Kylee has been healthy. It will be great to have Kait back in the lineup. She has been training very well. We will even unveil Louise for the first time in about 22 months.
"I was relatively pleased with Friday night (at Boise State)" Huston added. "Traditionally we struggle in early October, which is a little early to compete, but all-in-all I thought we did much better than we had managed in the last couple of years. Shelby Bottoms had a great meet both days. Her 100-free, 100-fly and 200-IM were particularly strong. Freshmen Michelle Gean and Quincy Christian were impressive.
"On any given day we are having some outstanding practices by various individuals," he said. "This week a couple of standouts in training have been, Nicole Delaloye, Alex O'Brien, Stephanie Wei, Lilly Marrow, Shelby and Kait."
So there it is. The team was defeated twice at Boise State, but a lot can get made up in a week. The Owls are now a little healthier, the team will be swimming at home, and in case you missed it, Rice is hosting the University of Houston. Friday's Schedule of Events is as follows:
Oct. 15, 2010; Houston at Rice (4 pm)
4 x 100 Medley Relay, 1 heat
200 Freestyle, 2 heats
3 x 50 Butterfly Relay, 1 heat
200 Breaststroke, 2 heats
3 x 50 Backstroke Relay, 1 heat
200 Butterfly, 2 heats
3 x 50 Breaststroke Relay, 1 heat
200 Backstroke, 2 heats
3 x 100 IM Relay, 1 heat
400 Individual Medley, 2 heats
4 x 100 Freestyle Relay, 1 heat
Players Mentioned
