Swimming opens new pool with convincing victories
The setting could not have been more perfect. From the beautiful weather gracing the Rice campus this past weekend, to the Barbara and David Gibbs Recreation Center adorned with an array of balloons, to the fans on their feet in the bleachers surrounding the Rice Aquatic Center cheering on the Owls, the swim team's first meet in their new pool was all it could have asked for. This past weekend was not only the season home opener for the swim team, but also foreshadowed the first of many meets to come to the new Olympic-sized pool.Head Coach Seth Huston said the team came in ready to give the fans a show.
"This is the very first meet in the new center," Huston said. "It means something special to the team. We wanted to go out there and leave the fans in awe."
Rice did not disappoint their faithful, as the team swept both duals against the University of the Incarnate Word and the University of New Orleans. The inaugural Rice Aquatic Center Invitational held 38 different events in both men's and women's collegiate swimming, and the slate of Rice victories contributed to the Owls' overall wins against the Privateers (222-92) and the Cardinals (262-85).
The team was perfect after the first day of competition, winning all seven events. The team of seniors Pam Zelnick and Angela Wo along with junior Erin Mattson and sophomore Shelby Bottoms swam a season-best of 3:56.38 in the women 400-yard medley relay for Rice's first, but not last, win of the day. In individual races, junior Kait Chura tallied the second-fastest time in Conference USA this year in the women 400-yard IM with 4:28.54. Shelby Bottoms, sophomore Alison Godbe and freshman Kylee Talwar followed her with a one-two-three-four finish.
After the first two events, the excitement from the fans was palpable, helping power the Owls to five more wins. Zelnick recorded a season-best 53.46 in the 100-yard freestyle with freshman Kim Steinhouse and Mattson behind her for the one-two-three finish. Freshman Stephanie Wei (2:06.20) and Chura (2:06.45) came up with close first- and second-place finishes, with only a quarter of a second to spare between them.
The team captured another first- and second-place finish in the 200-yard breaststroke with junior Ashten Ackerman touching the wall first and sophomore Alex O'Brien coming in right behind her. The 100-yard butterfly marked the first event in which the team did not take the top two spots, though Wo still won the event, finishing in 57.47 seconds.
With the 500-yard freestyle event closing Friday's races, the team wanted to finish the meet as well as they began it. Freshman Danielle Spence recorded a season-best 5:04.31 to win the race, beating out four of her teammates. After the first day of competition, the team was in prime position to sweep the meet, with a 104-27 lead over the New Orleans and a 110-21 lead over Incarnate Word.
The Owls continued to show their dominance throughout the second day of the meet, winning seven of the 10 races. The team of Wo, Mattson, Zelnick and Bottoms competed in the 200-yard medley relay, winning the first of the seven races on day two. Following that performance, the team captured another one-two-three-four finish in the 1,000-yard freestyle. O'Brien led the way, followed by Gerken, Delaloye and Spence.
Bottoms had a great performance in day two, as she came in first in the 200-yard freestyle and led the one-two-three finish in the 200-yard IM, with Chura and Godbe behind her. Wo finished first in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 59.22 seconds, helping the swim team secure the meet victory. Mattson also finished the day off impressively with a victory in the 200-yard butterfly. Zelnick and Steinhouse finished the 50-yard freestyle with .2 seconds between them for first and second place.
The team recorded two season-best records in the 100-yard breaststroke and the 400-yard freestyle relay. Zelnick swam the breaststroke in 1:06.52, finishing only .2 seconds behind the leader. For the second record, the team of Zelnick, Mattson, Godbe and Bottoms finished the relay in 3:33.41 minutes.
According to Zelnick, the sound defeats stemmed from the electricity brimming around the new pool.
"This was the first meet to be held in the new center, our new home," Zelnick said. "We wanted to go out there and perform at the best of our abilities in front of our fans while celebrating coming into a new facility."
On Tuesday Bottoms and Zelnick were named C-USA Co-Swimmers of the Week for their performances at the Rice Aquatic Center Invitational.
Rice will travel to the University of Nebraska to compete at the Cornhusker Invitational on Nov. 19-22, where the Owls will be defending their meet title against Big 12 powerhouse Nebraska.
"We will try and carry some of the energy and emotion that was expressed in last week's competition into our next meet," Huston said. "There will be some top-ranked teams at the next meet and we will have to perform as well as we did at the home opener.
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