Swimming finishes 2nd in C-USA

After four straight days of swimming on the Conference USA Championships in Atlanta, Rice narrowly completed 2d at the back of a Florida International University team that gained its fifth instantly C-USA Championship. However, the Owls left Atlanta with their honest share of accolades. Senior Marie-Claire Schillinger introduced her already fantastic series of hardware in her Rice profession. Schillinger qualified for her fourth instantly NCAA Championships look using prevailing the two hundred-yard breaststrokes. She finished with a finals time of two:09:67, which set a new Rice program record. Head educate Seth Huston said he changed into happy with the group’s 2nd-vicinity end. “We stayed targeted on ourselves and nobody else and made the meet some distance more thrilling than absolutely everyone had expected,” Huston stated.

Five factors, 63 points at the back of first-area FIU. The gap between Rice and third-vicinity University of North Texas become 350.5 factors, more than the distinction between UNT and remaining-location Old Dominion University. The Owls started day one of the C-USA Championships with a 2nd place finish within the two-hundred-yard medley relay with a finals time of one:38.70 behind FIU. In addition to a robust performance within the 200-yard medley relay, the Owls outperformed all of the competition inside the 800-yard freestyle relay after a very last time of 7:07 — seventy-seven, which also became a Rice record. Rice finished the meet with 872.

While the Owls published dazzling instances in the day to pull themselves inside, placing distance of the first area, day 3 proved to be even higher. Sophomore Ellery Parish and freshman Becca Evans highlighted the Owls’ performance on day two after completing first in their respective occasions. Parish gained the five hundred-yard freestyle with the very last time of 4: forty four.09. In the 50-backyard freestyle, Evans tied for first with a swimmer from the University of North Texas after completing an equal time of 23.08. The Owls also dazzled within the two hundred-backyard freestyle relay. Rice’s crew turned into anchored by Schillinger, who helped the relay group to a first region ended with a very last group time of 1:31.10.

Schillinger’s aforementioned first region victory. Parish finished first inside the 200-backyard freestyle while other swimmers tied for 2d within the event. Schillinger additionally had a first-place end as she finished with a final time of 59.Sixty-eight in the 100-backyard breaststroke. Even though Rice outpaced FIU in first area finishes, the Owls remained in the second vicinity after day three. While Rice could not drag ahead of FIU on the fourth and final day, the Owls set a couple of records on day 4. As Schillinger heads off for her final collegiate swimming tournament, Huston stated that she still has room to grow even though she has done a good deal.

“Marie-Claire is simply beginning to discover how excellent she will truly be,” Huston said. Parish added her call to the Rice swimming file books as she swam an Owls file time of one:56.Seventy-five within the 200-yard backstroke. The Owls had 3 of the top 4 finishers in the 200-yard butterfly. Sophomore Lindsay Mathys led the way for the Owls and her first-place displaying in a time of 1: fifty-eight. Fifty-nine. Mathys’ mark becomes the second one-best two hundred fly time in Rice swimming’s history. Huston also walked away with a training accolade, prevailing his 5th C-USA Coach of the Year award. According to Huston, the crew deserved credit for the award, no longer him. “While we did no longer win the meet, the [coaching] award become a piece of reputation to how nicely the team competed this weekend,” Huston said. The Owls will now go back to Rice’s opposition pool to put together for the CSCAA National Invitational, which begins March 14 in Cleveland, Ohio.