Rice University
C-USA Championship
Rice Relay Automatically Qualifies For NCAA Swim Championships
2/19/2015 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Alicia Caldwell, Rachel Moody, Casey Clark and Marissa Konicke became the first Rice relay since 2001 to automatically qualify for the NCAA Swim Championships, highlighting the Owls' second day of action at the Conference USA Championships Thursday in Knoxville, Tenn.
The same foursome had won the C-USA championship in the 200-yard medley relay on meet's opening night on Wednesday. Even with a (then) new school record time 1:38.11, Rice head coach Seth Huston still wasn't quite ready to let that be the squad's final shot at maybe reaching just a little higher.
After Thursday's morning prelims, coach Huston had the squad do a timed-trial - where the student-athletes compete only against the clock (and sometimes in a near-empty swim facility except for meet officials who monitor the proceedings). In Thursday's timed trial, the same group blasted the school record they had set only a few hours before, clocking a new Rice record of 1:37.04.
The new mark punched the foursome's ticket to the NCAA Swim Championships to be held March 19-21 in Greensboro, North Carolina. At the NCAA's the Owls will have their chance to compete for the National Championship in that event. The last Rice relay to automatically qualify for the NCAA's in 2001 came pretty close to accomplishing that feat, finishing eighth in the nation in the 200-freestyle relay.
"Making the A cut in the 200-medley relay today was awesome," coach Huston said. "Everyone stepped up to make it happen."
For the remainder of Thursday's C-USA action Rice had to battle for points in the team standings. After Day 2 (a total of seven women's events), Rice is in third place with a total of 203.5 points. Florida International leads the meet with 253 points while Western Kentucky is second (235 pts.). Marshall is fourth (180.5), followed by Florida Atlantic (156),North Texas (130) and Old Dominion (104) round out the remaining seven-team field.
The Owls' highlights were another strong relay race, this time the 4x50 freestyle. Though not another NCAA automatic cut, the 1:30.71 from Clark, Cora McKenzie, Moody and Konicke set a new school record to take second place and was just two one-hundredths of a second from first place.
Individually Erin Flanigan was second in the 500-freestyle with a collegiate-best 4:44.45, the second-fastest mark in school history. The senior from Austin has never been lower than third place in the 500 for her Rice career, tallying one gold, two silvers and a bronze over the last four years. Anniina Ala-Seppala finished eighth in the event while Taylor Armstrong was eleventh.
The Owls placed three in the top nine of the 50-free, with Caldwell taking sixth overall with a career-best 23.06. Konicke finished eighth after a 23.09 in the morning prelims. Moody won the consolation finals with a 23.33.
True freshman Jaecey Parham reached the championship finals of the 200-individual medley with a career-best 2:01.68 in the morning prelims and finished eighth overall. Lauren FitzGerald was tenth in the event (2:02.30) and Kaitlyn Swinney was eleventh (2:03.80).
"Today was also tough," coach Huston. "We swam well, but we need to better. We knew today was our weakest day, so now we need to bring `it', tomorrow and rally back."
There are two days completed in the meet with two more to go. Friday's events get under way with preliminary swim races beginning at 9:30 am (Central Time) at the University of Tennessee. Evening finals, including springboard diving, are scheduled for 5 pm (CST).
FRI., FEBRUARY 19
Preliminaries - 9:30 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 - 5 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 20
Preliminaries - 9:30 am
200-Yard Backstroke
100-Yard Freestyle
200-Yard Breaststroke
200-Yard Butterfly
1,650-Yard Freestyle Preliminaries & Finals
Diving Preliminaries - 1 pm
Platform (Men & Women)
Finals - 5 pm
Platform Diving (Women)
200-Yard Backstroke
100-Yard Freestyle
200-Yard Breaststroke
200-Yard Butterfly
Platform Diving (Men)
400-Yard Freestyle Relay
Players Mentioned
