Courtesy: Rice Athletics
HOUSTON — The Rice swim team concluded its weekend action on Saturday (Feb. 23) at the First Chance Meet held across town at the University of Houston.
Saturday Format: By design there was no team scoring. The meet more closely resembled time trials only with a sizable list of events staged in both long-course meters and short-course yards. Because both Rice and meet host Houston have an eye on their respective upcoming conference championships the goal Saturday was to get the competitors in a race-day mindset. With the stakes at the conference meet as high as they are, a final tune-up might pay off as soon as Wednesday of next week.
Owls In Tune: Rice delivered sound and solid marks that were enough to improve some spots in seeding the heats at the C-USA Championships. Sophomore Lindsay Mathys, who had only a handful of posted times due to being sidelined for most of the season, zoomed to a season-best 55.79 in the 100-yard butterfly. In the 100-yard freestyle the tandem of Hannah Sumbera and Ellery Parish both notched season-best marks of 51.76 and 51.78, respectively. It was the same season-best performances for Claire Therien (1:50.51) and Sydney Franzen (1:51.70) in the 200-yard freestyle. The Owls also posted their best sprint relay of the season (1:33.54), with Harper Gillentine recording a season-best 50-free split (24.16) on the lead leg.
“We’re ready for conference,” said Rice head coach Seth Huston, now in his 17th year at the helm of the Owl program. Rice has finished as the C-USA runner-up in each of the last three seasons.
Next Up: Rice next competes at the annual Conference USA Championships from February 27 to March 1 in Atlanta. After two relay races to start the meet on Wednesday, there are three full days of prelim and championship events thru next Saturday at the Olympic Natatorium on the campus of Georgia Tech University.