Rice University
North Texas
Swimmers Win At North Texas Friday, 175-118
1/8/2021 6:26:00 PM | Swimming & Diving
Owls Post C-USA Victory By Winning 11 of 14 Swim Events
Sophomore Sini Koivu won a pair of individual events and swam on both winning Rice relays to help lead the Owl swim team to a 175-118 Conference USA dual meet victory at North Texas on Friday evening (Jan. 8).
In her first official action since the season-opener at Texas A&M back in October, Koivu swept both breaststroke events with times of 1:05.59 in the 100 and a season-best 2:21.32 in the 200. The native of Espoo, Finland, also swam the breaststroke on Rice's winning 200-medley relay (1:45.30) and closed out the meet as the lead leg of the Owls' 400-free relay that placed first with a time of 3:32.20.
"Sini had a very good afternoon of racing," said Rice head coach Seth Huston, now in his 19th season at the helm of the program. "She really took advantage of her starts and turns to create an advantage. The team raced really well this afternoon considering that we drove to Denton from Houston this morning."
Seven different Owls won nine of the meet's 12 individual events. Adding the relay wins the Blue & Gray claimed 11 of the day's 14 races. Sophomore Zoe Spitz swept both backstroke events (56.57 and 2:04.78) while Becca Evans, Imogen Meers and Elizabeth Myers all won an individual event and joined their teammates on at least one winning relay. Coach Huston was particularly impressed by Evans on the final leg of the final relay and that the Owl newcomers are starting to shine.
"Becca pulled-off another magic trick," coach Huston said. "She was awesome rallying from about 1.5 seconds behind to win the 400-free relay for us. How about our freshmen with their winning performances, highlighted by season bests by Elizabeth Myers in the 200-butterfly (2:04.04) and Lauren Hurt in the 100-Fly (56.58). They dominated the field from start to finish."
The Rice swimmers must now bounce back for a second successful meet in as many days. Owls next compete at longtime foe SMU on Saturday (Jan. 9) at 11 a.m. in Dallas.
Players Mentioned
