Owls Hold Strong Lead Heading into Championship Saturday

GREENSBORO, N.C. — The Rice Owls closed day three of the American Conference Championships with 1,040.5 points, maintaining a strong lead in the team standings. Liberty sits in second with 892 points, followed by East Carolina with 774.5.

Rice opened the evening by securing its first American relay championship since joining the league and just the second 800 free relay title in program history. The team of Ava Portello, Avery Karacz, Ava Hamblett and Reese Cole captured the 800-yard freestyle relay title with a time of 7:12.09.

"Starting the night with the relay victory was big. Our girls stayed dialed into the race plan from start to finish," head coach Seth Huston said.

In 3-meter diving, Antonina Harned placed fourth with a score of 296.10, while Morgan Robson finished eighth at 288.90.

The Owls added 24 points in the 100 backstroke, led by Abigail King's 14th-place finish in 55.58 and Jessica Lawton's 16th-place time of 56.24.

In the 100 breaststroke, freshman Bella Zhang narrowly missed the podium, placing fourth in 1:01.26. Siiri Einio finished eighth in 1:02.58 as Rice collected 48 points in the event.

Reese Cole earned her third individual medal of the meet in the 200 butterfly, finishing second in 1:58.61. Lily Archibald placed fourth in 1:59.25, and Sami Johnson took sixth (2:00.74), helping Rice total 86.5 points in the event.

"We held our own on a day with our fewest performances," Rice coach Seth Huston said. "Our divers really stepped up today with Antonina and Morgan making the A final."

Rice will look to defend its conference title Saturday in the final day of competition. The meet will be streamed on ESPN+.

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