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Sports

SPORTS 4/19/12 7:00pm

Rice coaches demonstrate athletic power

By Dan Elledge

With Rice University's esteemed academic tradition, when you think of award winners you think of Nobel Prize winners, award-winning researchers and top scholars. As a student or alumnus, you never expect to hear much about above and beyond athletic performance. It is Rice's academics on which people focus, not athletics. However, over the past two months, Owls fans, whether young children or elderly alumni, might have just witnessed something that they might never see again in their lifetimes.

SPORTS 4/19/12 7:00pm

Women's tennis drops close match against TCU

By Marie Walsh

The women's tennis team certainly knows how to keep its fans on their toes. Last week, the team played Southern Methodist University on Saturday, April 14 and Texas Christian University on Sunday, April 15. The back-to-back games had two very different outcomes on the same weekend. Taking on SMU in Dallas, the Owls won 6-0. The teams competed in a strictly singles competition.

SPORTS 4/19/12 7:00pm

Women's Track battles the elements in El Paso

By Bhagwat Kumar

Despite the windy conditions at The University of Texas-El Paso Invitational on Saturday, April 14th, the women's track and field team was able to make significant strides forward, particularly in the shot put and discus, led by freshman Claire Uke and junior Sharae Robinson.

SPORTS 4/19/12 7:00pm

Nick Williams sets Rice hammer throw record

By Thresher Staff Reports

Amidst the 30-to-40 mile-per-hour winds in the high desert of El Paso, an unlikely hero arose for the men's track team at The University of Texas-El Paso Invitational. While his track career is far from set in stone, thrower sophomore Nick Williams has had a lot to live up to so far during his tenure as an Owl, as most expect him to be the star thrower that senior Alex Zinchenko has largely been during his near-finished career with Rice. While he has shown promise at times, Williams created his best memory as an Owl on Saturday as he stepped into the throwing ring for the hammer throw. Williams has scored well in the event, but not highly enough to be considered to be a threat for the Conference USA crown. However, all that changed with his throw of 49.63 meters, which now stands as the all-time record for the event in men's track history, beating Clay Baker's (Brown '10) throw of 48.54 meters three years ago. Williams' throw was good enough for sixth place overall, and the sophomore now has the confidence to believe that he can challenge for the podium at the C-USA Championship in two weeks in New Orleans. Head Coach Jon Warren (Jones '88) commented on Williams' seminal performance.

SPORTS 4/19/12 7:00pm

The Fifth Lap

By Gabe Cuadra

When the celebration of the London Olympics kicks off this summer, it will also mark a very somber anniversary. It will mark 40 years and 10 Olympiads since the day that, as one athlete put it, the modern Olympics lost its innocence.

SPORTS 4/12/12 7:00pm

Becky Wade qualifies for 2012 US Olympic Trials

By Bhagwat Kumar

On April 6, at the Stanford Invitational, senior Becky Wade ran a 32:40.8 in the 10,000-meter. This time now stands as the Rice University school record and qualifies Wade for the U.S. Olympic trials this summer. Setting this mark was a major step in what has been an arduous process for Wade, one that began her freshman year and will continue into the Olympic Trials. Wade always wanted to have the 10,000-meter record, but did not really have a chance to go for it until this season.

SPORTS 4/12/12 7:00pm

Women's Tennis sweeps away Texas Pan-American

By Marie Walsh

The women's tennis team played their last home game of the season against the University of Texas-Pan American on April 7. The game was a great victory for Rice University after two difficult losses the week prior, the first in a close tie-breaking match against the University of Missouri, 4-3, and the second against Conference USA competitor University of Tulsa, 5-2. After last week's matches, Head Coach Elizabeth Schmidt was highly impressed with the team's perseverance in training.

SPORTS 4/12/12 7:00pm

Football ends spring practice with high hopes

By Teddy Grodek

Over the course of the past month, the Rice Owls took to the gridiron for their annual spring practices, taking an opportunity to hit the field to find out what they have coming into the next season. Capping two weeks of spring practices, the Owls were excited to play three scrimmages, and on March 30, the team had its annual Blue and Gray game, showcasing the offense against the defense.

SPORTS 4/12/12 7:00pm

Men's Tennis still lives on tournament bubble

By Dan Elledge

The countdown to the NCAA tournament is on, and the Owls know that they do not have much room for error. Rice left the court this weekend with mixed results as they easily defeated Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi 6-1 on Friday afternoon but fumbled a momentous chance to boost their NCAA tournament chances as they fell to the University of Oklahoma 6-1 early Sunday afternoon.

SPORTS 4/12/12 7:00pm

Becky Wade qualifies for 2012 US Olympic Trials

By Bhagwat Kumar

On April 6, at the Stanford Invitational, senior Becky Wade ran a 32:40.8 in the 10,000-meter. This time now stands as the Rice University school record and qualifies Wade for the U.S. Olympic trials this summer. Setting this mark was a major step in what has been an arduous process for Wade, one that began her freshman year and will continue into the Olympic Trials. Wade always wanted to have the 10,000-meter record, but did not really have a chance to go for it until this season.

SPORTS 4/4/12 7:00pm

Men's tennis seven-game streak snapped by A&M

By Dan Elledge

Even though Rice University left Las Vegas last weekend, the Owls are still feeling lucky, as they narrowly escaped matches against Southern Methodist University and Texas Christian University with 4-3 wins apiece to keep their streak going at seven games. However, lady luck was not on their side Wednesday as they got swept in College Station, TX by Texas A&M University, 7-0. Texas A&M easily took a 1-0 lead in doubles and never let it up. In singles, senior Sam Garforth-Bles and senior Christian Saravia pushed their matches to three sets, bu it was no use. The Owls went back home overwhelmed. With the loss, Rice ended its season-high seven winning streak.

SPORTS 4/4/12 7:00pm

Women's field team enjoys success

By Bhagwat Kumar

As the majority of the Rice campus found itself enveloped in the frenzy of Beer Bike, the track and field team was busy competing at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, which were held at Mike A. Myers track on March 31. The women's team looked to build on its success at the Victor Lopez Classic last week. Junior Sharae Robinson continued her run of impressive performances, placing fourth overall in the discus. Robinson threw a season-best 48.2 meters, beating her previous season high of 47.9 meters and falling just short of her all-time best mark of 48.66 meters.

SPORTS 4/4/12 7:00pm

Club tennis qualifies for nationals for first time

By Dan Elledge

The men and women's varsity tennis teams are not the only ones making noise on campus. Club tennis has provided some headlines as well. One club tennis team, consisting of Brown College junior Dylan Tozier, Sid Richardson College junior Chad Bustard, Baker College freshman Nelson Chen, graduate student Akshay Mathkar, Will Rice College freshman Genevieve Tarlton, and Lovett College junior Samaria Mouton, qualified for nationals at the Texas sectionals that were held in Austin during the weekend of March 2 to March 4.

SPORTS 4/4/12 7:00pm

Women's Tennis falls to Tulsa and Missouri

By Marie Walsh

After a rush to the top 30 in the polls, the women's tennis team was brought back to Earth last weekend with a couple of tough losses at home. With the University of Missouri on Friday, Rice took the early doubles point as the Owls' were up 1-0. However, the Tigers roared back and took four of the six singles to come up with a huge upset against the Owls as they squeaked by with a score of 4-3. Even in the defeat, freshman Natalie Beazant nailed another win for the Owls as she won in a three-set thriller against Missouri's Nina Pantic.

SPORTS 4/4/12 7:00pm

Men's track has setback at relays in Austin

By Thresher Staff Reports

With the men's track and field team enjoying the home cooking at the Victor Lopez Classic the previous weekend, Head Coach Jon Warren (Jones '88) and his squad did not necessarily expect the same caliber of results at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays this past weekend, but they certainly did not foresee a tumultuous first day of competition like they experienced last Thursday in Austin.

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