2008 Woodie Awards
Massengale paces swimmers to second place
Tracy Dansker
Issue date: 3/14/08 Section: Sports
Since the Conference USA Championships were her last meet as an Owl, Brittany Massengale - the sole healthy senior on the swim team - was anticipating an extra dose of emotion. But as the meet wound down, there was too much excitement surrounding Rice's second-place finish for her to shed a tear for herself. For the second year in a row, Rice finished its dual season with a 10-4 record and took second place behind Southern Methodist University, which scored 926 points to the Owls' 635 and took the title for the third consecutive year.
"SMU had a better team this year than they did last year … but we definitely separated ourselves from the rest of the conference," head coach Seth Huston said. "We were putting a lot of people in the top eight in the finals right there like SMU always does, but we were doing it more so than in previous years."
Despite losing to the Mustangs, the team performed above and beyond any of its recent finishes. Not only did the Owls get multiple swimmers into the finals in 33 events, but they also managed to break six school records and came very close to matching several others over the four day meet. Fittingly, Massengale led Rice in the distance freestyle events, winning the mile swim with a career-best time of 16:17.73 to take the team's only individual gold of the meet. She also took second-place in the 500-yard freestyle, followed by junior Caitlin Warner and freshmen Karen Gerken and Sarah Korellis, who all finished in the top eight.
By virtue of her top finish, Massengale made the automatic cut for the NCAA Championships for the first time in her collegiate career and will be the only Owl to travel to Columbus, Ohio, from March 20-22 for the national meet.
Junior Carlyann Miller highlighted Rice's finishes in the sprint events, as she reached the finals in the 50, 100 and 200-yard freestyle races. Sophomore Pam Zelnick recorded a sixth-place finish in the 50, and junior Diane Gu took eighth in both the 50 and 100. Freshmen Kait Chura and Ashten Ackerman were also major contributors in the individual medley events.
"SMU had a better team this year than they did last year … but we definitely separated ourselves from the rest of the conference," head coach Seth Huston said. "We were putting a lot of people in the top eight in the finals right there like SMU always does, but we were doing it more so than in previous years."
Despite losing to the Mustangs, the team performed above and beyond any of its recent finishes. Not only did the Owls get multiple swimmers into the finals in 33 events, but they also managed to break six school records and came very close to matching several others over the four day meet. Fittingly, Massengale led Rice in the distance freestyle events, winning the mile swim with a career-best time of 16:17.73 to take the team's only individual gold of the meet. She also took second-place in the 500-yard freestyle, followed by junior Caitlin Warner and freshmen Karen Gerken and Sarah Korellis, who all finished in the top eight.
By virtue of her top finish, Massengale made the automatic cut for the NCAA Championships for the first time in her collegiate career and will be the only Owl to travel to Columbus, Ohio, from March 20-22 for the national meet.
Junior Carlyann Miller highlighted Rice's finishes in the sprint events, as she reached the finals in the 50, 100 and 200-yard freestyle races. Sophomore Pam Zelnick recorded a sixth-place finish in the 50, and junior Diane Gu took eighth in both the 50 and 100. Freshmen Kait Chura and Ashten Ackerman were also major contributors in the individual medley events.
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