Swimcloud

Rice Cooks Houston

Five Rice senior swimmers, led by distance specialist Erin Flanigan, made a statement in their final road dual meet across town at rival Houston by leading the Owls to a convincing 176-117 victory over U.H. Wednesday evening at the Cougars’ Rec Center Natatorium.
 
Flanigan swept both distance events, posting a winning time of 4:58.65 in the 500-yard freestyle and a steady 10:12.05 in the 1,000. She was joined by Owl seniors Casey Clark (200-butterfly, 2:05.01), Faith Hirschi (200-backstroke, 2:05.54), Marissa Konicke (50-freestyle, 24.73) and Rachel Moody (100-breaststroke, 1:03.36), who all notched individual wins on the night. The veteran trio of Clark, Konicke and Moody also swam on winning Rice relays as the Blue & Gray claimed 11 of the meet’s 14 swim events.
 
Junior Cora McKenzie led a 1-2 Owl finish with Moody in the 100-freestyle that included season-best marks of 52.56 and 52.68, respectively. Late in the meet redshirt sophomore Meaghan Wisenbaker brought her teammates to their feet with an emotional win in the 100-butterfly (56.88). Wisenbaker had missed all of last season while sidelined with an injury, but came from behind to post her first individual win in more than a calendar year.
 
Houston won the 100-backstroke, 200-breaststroke and 200-freestyle, as well as both springboard diving events (which the Owls do not compete in). The Rice swimmers are next in action on Oct. 31 at longtime rival SMU. The Owls then face North Texas in a Conference USA dual meet on Nov. 1.

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