Rice
Seniors Casey Clark and Rachel Moody both broke their own respective school records to pace the Rice swim team on the second day of competition at the University of the Incarnate Word Christmas Invitational Saturday in San Antonio, Texas.
The Owls followed their five-win performance on yesterday’s opening day of the meet with another five wins Saturday. Rice leads the four-team field with a total of 1,496.5 points. North Texas is in second place (902 points), followed by meet host Incarnate Word (848 pts.) and the University of Houston is fourth (709.5).
Clark led a 1-2-3 Rice finish in the 100-butterfly with new school record and NCAA provisional time of 52.70. Seniors Marissa Konicke also reached the B cut with a season-best 54.25 while freshman Kiley Beall notched a season-best 55.89 for third.
Moody was just-off her school mark in the 100-breaststroke in the morning prelims, but returned to set the new mark and win the event in record time of 1:01.15. Both Clark and Moody were the respective first-two legs of the Owls’ winning 200-medley relay. The record-setting seniors were joined by Konicke and freshman Hannah Deters for a winning time of 1:40.85.
After a win in the 500-freestyle on Friday night, senior Erin Flanigan led a 1-2 Owl finish in the 200-free along with junior Taylor Armstrong. The duo posted season-best times of 1:49.69 and 1:50.82, respectively.
The Blue & Gray tallied a pair of second place finishes with Anniina Ala-Seppala in the 400-individual medley (4:23.89), and Beall in the 100-backstroke after a season-best 55.96.
Clark, Cora McKenzie, Konicke and Lauren Fitzgerald closed out the night’s action with a win in the 800-free relay. The Owl foursome’s 7:24.34 was a comfortable lead over second place. Rice head coach Seth Huston, the 2014 C-USA Coach of the Year, liked what he saw.
“We had a great day of racing up and down the lineup,” coach Huston said. “Casey really looked strong tonight in the 100-fly. She really held a lot of water with each stroke.
“Rachel had a fantastic 50 split on our medley and carried that momentum into 100,” the head coach added. “I really like how Rachel has been finishing her races. I was really proud of all of our 800 free relays. We had some great splits and the A and B relays really duked it out from start to finish.”
The three-day meet concludes on Sunday, Dec. 21, at the Palo Alto Natatorium with two sessions divided by morning prelims and evening finals.
