Phill Hansel Dual Meets

HOUSTON, Texas, November 14. RICE juniors of Angela Wo and Pam Zelnick both posted season bests to win individual events and the duo contributed to an Owl relay victory on a successful first day of competition at the annual Phill Hansel Dual Meets, a five-way series of swim meets held Friday and Saturday (Nov.14-15) across town at the University of Houston Rec Center Natatorium.

At the half-way point of the meet, the Rice swimmers are ahead of all four opponents in the team scoring. The Owls lead Florida International 126-41, Incarnate Word 140-43, Vanderbilt 138-39 and meet host Houston 95-88. There are eight more swim events to be held on Saturday beginning at 11:30 am.

The Rice relay of Wo, Zelnick, Skylar Craig and Carlyann Miller got the team off to a great start with a win in the opening event of the night. The veteran foursome posted a season-best time of 1:45.62 to claim the 200-medley relay, but there is even more to the race than that. The Owls' "B" relay of Justine Lin, Ashten Ackerman, Alexandra Ernst and Diane Gu swam a solid 1:48.95 to finish third overall in the 11-team relay field.

Wo came back and swam a season-best 58.44 in the 100-backstroke, but only had a second place to show for the effort. Three events later, the Houston native from Hightower High School zoomed to a win over a field of 19 competitors in the 100-butterfly. Her career-best time of 56.89 was even better than her mark at the Conference USA Championship Finals last season. It's notable that sophomore Erin Mattson was third with a 57.43, giving the redshirt her best 100-fly in two years after sitting out last season with an injury.

The Owls were on a roll and in the very next event of the night, Zelnick won the 50-freestyle with a season-best 24.05. The junior from Ohio nearly led an Owl sweep of the top four spots as Skylar Craig was third (24.74) and Diane Gu was fourth (24.90).

Freshman Shelby Bottoms recorded two second place finishes on the night with her two of best swims of the year. The local standout from nearby Lamar High School swam a 1:52.33 in the 200-freestyle and a 2:07.67 in the 200-individual medley. Veteran Caitlin Warner was second among a field of 14 competitors in the mile. She posted a 17:21.74 in her first race at the rugged distance this season.

Sophomore Ashten Ackerman was the top Rice finisher in the 100-breaststroke. Ackerman swam a 2:24.02 while freshman Alex O'Brien was fourth in the event with a 2:24.76.

The Phill Hansel Duals concludes with eight more swim events on Saturday. The meet schedule and Day 1 team scores are listed below.

Meet Scores After First Day
Rice 95
Houston 88

Rice 138
Vanderbilt 39

Rice 126
Florida International 41

Rice 140
Incarnate Word 43

Special thanks to Rice for contributing this report.

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