Rice Stays on Top after Day Two

Wednesday, February 18

Greensboro, N.C.

Rice University

The American Championships

Photo by: The American Conference

2/19/2026 8:32:00 PM | Swimming & Diving

By: Kendyll Morris (km215@rice.edu)

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Rice maintained a commanding lead after day two of the American Conference Championships.

The Owls lead the team standings with 769 points, followed by Liberty (602) and East Carolina (513.5). Rice earned five medals on the day, highlighted by a championship performance in the 400 individual medley.

Rice opened the finals session with a fourth-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay. The team of Lily Archibald, Lizzie Zadel, Avery Karacz and Bella Zhang posted a time of 1:30.59.

Reese Cole captured her second title of the meet, winning the 400 IM in 4:12.61, an automatic NCAA qualifying time. Lily Cramer added a bronze medal in 4:16.32 as Rice totaled 218 points in the event.

Freshman Lily Archibald earned her first podium finish of the championships, placing second in the 100 butterfly in 52.53. Jessica Lawton finished sixth in 54.23, helping Rice collect 66.5 points in the event.

Ava Portello added a silver medal in the 200 freestyle, finishing in 1:46.78, just one-hundredth of a second behind the winner (1:46.77). Karacz placed fifth in 1:48.55 as Rice earned 82 points.

In diving, Morgan Robson advanced to the finals and placed fourth on the 1-meter board with a score of 273.95, adding 26 points to the Owls' total.

To close the night, Rice finished third in the 400 medley relay. The team of Abigail King, Cole, Archibald and Zhang recorded a time of 3:38.68.

Rice returns to action Friday with preliminaries at 9:30 a.m. and finals at 5 p.m. Both sessions will stream on ESPN+.