|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Rice Thresher
Phone:
|
by John C. Chao thresher staff Last weekend was supposed to be a weekend of promise for the swim team. Instead, it turned out to be one of disappointment when the Owls lost both matches on their trip to the Tarheel State. Rice fell 201.5-83.5 to ninth-ranked University of North Carolina Friday and lost 149-88 to North Carolina State University the following day. The Owls did have some individual highlights. Junior Rachel Armstrong won the 200-yard freestyle in both meets. Armstrong also captured the 100-yard freestyle at North Carolina State in 53.02 seconds and finished second in the event at North Carolina in 52.98. The Owls also shone in the 400-yard individual medley against North Carolina. Junior Elizabeth Williams won the event in 4 minutes, 32.50 seconds, and freshman Toni Ciffolilli took second place. Junior Katie Scholl dominated the 1,000-yard freestyle at North Carolina State, winning by over eight seconds in a time of 10:21.80. But despite some strong individual performances, the Owls realize that some of the problems present on last year's team have not yet been solved. "We still have a lot of work to do on relays," sophomore Mandy Mularz said. "That was our weakness last year." Head coach Doug Boyd said he believes the Owls are better than the performance they showed last weekend. He also said their mental state was not at 100 percent in the meets, possibly as a result of a few close losses at the beginning of the North Carolina State meet. "We let ourselves down a little," Boyd said. "I think that we may have fed off of negative vibes from others and let mental things bother us. "I believe we are a 25th-35th ranked team. But we have to realize that everybody must contribute to the effort, not just a couple people." While it would have taken a flawless performance in order to pull out a victory last weekend, the swimmers are still a little disappointed with their finish. "We were expecting more from ourselves," Scholl said. "We were bummed that things didn't turn out the way we wanted them to. ... It was a really good idea to get these meets in early. It's a wake-up call for us that we need to work harder if we want to get national recognition." The Owls will face stiff competition again next weekend when they host the Continental Airlines Classic at the Rice Pool. They will face powerhouses like second-ranked University of California and top 10 teams University of Michigan and Southern Methodist University. The Owls are very nervous, but excited about the coming meet. "We're really anxious about this race because there are some really fast girls coming," Scholl said. "However, this meet will be more of a level playing field for us since there will be no diving and only 10 swimmers a team." Boyd agrees that the upcoming meet will provide some much-needed experience for his young team. "I think this meet will be good for us, no matter the outcome," Boyd said. "We could have a great meet and still finish fifth [out of six teams]."
- back - |
|
|
Search the Thresher pages:
This document may be distributed electronically, provided that it is distributed in its entirety and includes this notice. However, it cannot be reprinted without the express written permission of: The Rice Thresher, Rice University MS-524, PO Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251-1892, USA. The Thresher Online Project -- ethresh@listserv.rice.edu |
