Junior Shelbi Ragsdale claimed two individual events and swam on a winning Rice relay to help pace the Owl swimmers to a 106-97 dual meet road victory over Incarnate Word Tuesday afternoon in San Antonio, Texas.
After coasting to a win in the 100-yard butterfly with time of 57.54, Ragsdale was equally strong in winning the 100-breaststroke with a 1:05.59 that was almost a five seconds ahead of second place. The native of Flower Mound, Texas, also swam the second leg of the Owls’ 200-medley relay that placed first with time of 1:48.55.
Sophomore Kiley Beall was a member of the same medley relay came back later in the meet to lead a 1-2 Rice finish in the 100-backstroke with Julie Litver, as the duo tallied times of 57.64 and 59.36, respectively. The Owls also swept both of the day’s distance events. Anniina Ala-Seppälä swam a 5:13.91 in a 1-2 Rice finish in the 500-freestyle with Kaitlin Benjamin (5:19.07). Earlier in the meet Benjamin won the 1,000-freestyle with 10:48.96.
With the win Rice evened its season dual meet record to 4-4. The Owls won without five of the team’s top performers, who are instead scheduled to compete later this week at the Arena Pro Swim Series in Austin, Texas. The meet is a USA Swimming event featuring a host of the nation’s elite competitors in a winter tune-up for the upcoming U.S. Olympic Trials.
