Rice Swimming 2008 Preview

By Tracy Dansker     10/9/08 7:00pm

Riding on the wave of many past accomplishments, the swim team enters this season poised to match or even exceed their high performance last season. The Owls finished 10-4 in dual meets and second at the Conference USA Championships last spring for the second consecutive year. The only team they did not overcome was Southern Methodist University, which amassed an impressive 926 points, almost 300 points above Rice's finish. At the national championships on March 22, 2008, Rice finished 39th in the nation. Additionally, senior sprinter Carlyann Miller competed at the 2008 Summer Olympic Trials. One of the team's goals this season is to remain in the top two in the conference and narrow the gap between themselves and SMU.

To start off the season's hunt for a C-USA Championship, Rice will swim against Texas A&M University and the University of North Texas in a double-dual meet at A&M's Student Rec Center Natatorium in College Station on Friday. The meet will begin at 4:30 p.m. and will have a 16-event format, including the 200-medley relay and the 200-freestyle relay.

This year's quest will be a little more difficult because the team lost graduating star distance swimmer Brittany Massengale. Although head coach Seth Huston recognizes what an irreplaceable loss Massengale is, he also acknowledges that in swimming, one swimmer does not win the meet for the team. The team also lost crucial point scorers Sally DeWitt, Stephanie Eberhardt and Keri Hyde.

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Huston believes that even with these losses, this year's team will excel in competition.

"As a team, since we didn't really graduate a whole lot.we're going to be better than we were last year," Huston said.

Returning after being red-shirted are seasoned swimmers sophomore Erin Mattson and senior Jennifer Hill. A talented troupe of freshmen also joins the squad. Shelby Bottoms swims the individual medley. Nicole Delaloyle swims distance. Alexandra Ernst and Louise Gliga specialize in the butterfly and freestyle. Alison Godbe excels at the individual medley and freestyle. Rounding out the six new girls, Alex O'Brien specializes in the individual medley and distance events.

Keeping in mind where the team's weaknesses were after losing four swimmers, Huston had specific goals in mind when recruiting this year's freshman class.

"Almost every freshman is pretty good at the IM [individual medley]. That's one thing I wanted to try to do-I wanted to bring in some versatility and create some options," Huston said.

Senior captain Natalie Kirchoff believes the freshmen will definitely make an impact on this year's team.

"We have six new girls on the team, and they're awesome," Kirchoff said. "They're hard workers; they are diverse; they can swim a wide range of events from individual events to then doing the individual medley. They're going to be great relay contributors as well."

Looking to returning swimmers, this year the individual freestyle events will most likely feature sophomore Karen Gerken, senior Diane Gu, junior Megan Land, sophomore Erin Mattson, Miller and senior Caitlin Warner. Without Massengale, the distance girls will be vying for the new top spot on the team. For the sprinters, Rice will look to dominate once again the freestyle relays, with all of last year's finishers back this season. Mattson, who was the 2007 C-USA Champion in the 200-meter butterfly, will also hopefully help lead the team in that event. Racing with her will be Kirchoff, senior Skylar Craig and junior Angela Wo.

The breaststroke will feature veteran sophomores Ashten Ackerman and Kait Chura, Kirchoff and fellow senior Jennifer Hill and juniors Allyson Lemay and Pam Zelnick. Ackerman, Lemay, and Zelnick all bring plenty of experience to this season, with each excelling in breaststroke last season. Ackerman made the 200 breaststroke finals at C-USA Championships, while Zelnick placed fifth at conference.

In the backstroke events, Chura, Craig, junior Justine Lin and Wo will compete for the Owls. At last year's conference championships, Rice took five out of the eight top spots in the backstroke. These five plan only to build on last season's success.

Those returning to the individual medley include Ackerman, Chura, Kirchoff and sophomore Sarah Korellis. Ackerman, Chura and Korellis all contributed at last season's C-USA Championship in the individual medley. Combined with Kirchoff this season, the freshmen also will be able to make an impact in this event. Bottoms, Godbe and O'Brien should all be able to contribute to individual medley competition.

Combined with his efforts to recruit well-rounded freshmen, Huston compiled a team that can cover every event thoroughly. Because he looked for more diversity in his swimmers, he should have no problem filling the medley relay with top individual times that will lead to a great relay finish.

The team will have to gain much experience before NCAA championships in the spring: Massengale was the lone Rice swimmer to qualify last year.

"The NCAA meet is arguably the hardest meet in the world to qualify for," Huston said. "We have to do a lot of things right to get to point."

Kirchoff believes that although it will be challenging, the Owls can qualify a group for this year's nationals.

"We want to go to NCAAs again," Kirchoff said. "We not only want to go again, but take more girls."

After the opening meet at A&M, the swim team will face Oregon State University on Oct. 24 and 25 in Corvallis, Ore. In November Rice will take on New Mexico State University, then swim against Florida International University, the University of the Incarnate Word and Vanderbilt University at the Phill Hansel Duals at the University of Houston Natatorium. Finally, the squad will attend the Cornhusker Invitational in Nebraska.

In January, after their training trip to Puerto Rico beginning Dec. 20, Rice will face SMU and later, Louisiana State University and Houston at the LSU Triple Dual Meet in Baton Rouge. Rice will face Incarnate Word again in February before they compete at the C-USA Championships at the end of the month, also at the UH Natatorium. Qualifiers for the American Short Course Championships and NCAA Championships will compete in March.

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