Rice University
Houston
Houston Tops Rice In Dual Meet
2/3/2021 5:49:00 PM | Swimming & Diving
Owls Post New Season-Best Marks
The Owls' streak of four consecutive dual meet victories came to end, but Rice had its share of highlights. Senior Ellery Parish posted a big season-best improvement on the way to taking second place in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:52.32. The mark is now the fastest in Conference USA and could earn her the top seed in the event at the upcoming C-USA Championships. The San Antonio native was also Rice's top finisher in the 200-free with a 1:50.24 that is the second-fastest this year in the conference.
Sophomore Madison Howe was second Wednesday in the 100-butterfly, but she likewise vaulted into C-USA's top seed with a 53.80 that is not too far off her event title-winning time (53.56) from a year ago. The Perth, Australia, standout was also second overall with a season-best 23.43 in a fast and furious 50-free. Fellow sophomores Shannon Campbell and Virginie Qian tallied season-bests in the 1000-freestyle and Zoe Spitz registered a 2:00.94 in the 200-backstroke, all catching the eye of Owl head coach Seth Huston.
"Solid performances today," coach Huston said. "It was great to see Ellery swim at a high level, it shows the work she has put in is paying off. 'Maddy' really looked great. She has really improved her turns and swam some very smart, strategic races.
"Shannon and 'Ginny' swam very well paced 1,000s" he added. "That was Zoe's lifetime best in the 200-backstroke and she returned to some of her fly prowess. I thought Lauren Brantley and Sophie Reilly were great in the 200-butterfly. That's a tough race, but both then came back and performed really well in their second event, the 200-IM for Lauren and 500-Sophie."
Players Mentioned
