Rice University
C-USA Championship
Jaecey Parham Wins C-USA Individual Championship In 200-IM
2/25/2016 12:00:00 AM | Swimming & Diving
By: John Sullivan, Rice Athletics (jsully@rice.edu)
ATLANTA -- Rice sophomore swimmer Jaecey Parham posted the third-fastest mark in school history to win the Conference USA event title in the 200-yard individual medley, highlighting the Owls' second day of action at the annual league championships Thursday evening in Atlanta, Ga.
Parham won the event title from among a starting field of 33 entries with a finals time of 2:00.25. The mark is her fastest as a Rice Owl and the third-best in school history.
A year ago the Lubbock, Texas, finished eighth in the same event as a true freshman. She put in a long year of work to move up to the top spot on the 2016 medal stand, and still had some work left to do even after earning the event's No. 1 seed in the morning prelims with a steady 2:00.41.
Parham was in second place after the event's first 50-yards (the butterfly leg), but had a strong backstroke and breaststroke on the next two segments to stretch her lead by more than one second heading into the final 50-freestyle. She held off a fierce charge from Florida Atlantic senior Agi Bucz to win the Owls' first C-USA title of the 2016 meet.
The 200-IM proved to be a big scoring event for Rice as four Owls finished in the top seven. In addition to Parham's win, sophomore Kaitlyn Swinney was fourth with time of 2:02.08. Freshman Marie-Claire Schillinger was sixth (2:03.10) and junior Shelbi Ragsdale was seventh (2:03.46).
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 events), Rice is in third place with a total of 203 points. Florida International leads the meet with 339 points while Marshall is second (222 pts.). North Texas is fourth (160), followed by Florida Atlantic (149), North Texas and Old Dominion (116) round out the remaining six-team field.
Freshman Hanna Huston was third in the 500-freestyle with a collegiate-best 4:50.66. Junior Anniina Ala-Seppälä finished sixth in the event while freshman Sydney Franzen stepped-up to win the consolation finals (ninth place) with a 4:54.63.
Junior Shelley Patton was Rice's top finisher in the 50-freestyle, placing 16th behind a season-best 23.86. She then returned a few races later to join Alicia Caldwell , Schillinger and Parham in the 4x50 freestyle relay. The Owls clocked a 1:34.35 to take fourth overall.
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 Georgia Tech Swim Center, the same facility that hosted the 1996 Olympic events. Evening finals, including springboard diving, are scheduled for 5 pm (CST).
Players Mentioned
