Rice Invitational, Day One

HOUSTON, Texas, October 28. RICE sophomore Chelsea Fong won the 200-yard individual medley over a field of 32 of other entrants to pace the Owl swimmers on the first day of competition at the inaugural Rice-Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites Medical Center Fall Invitational Friday afternoon (Oct. 28) at the Aquatics Center Competition Pool.

Through the first five events of the two-day 18-event swim meet hosted by Rice, the Owls are in third place in the overall team standings with 199 points. Arkansas leads the elite five team field with 335 points after winning three of day's five events with three new Aquatics Center facility records. Mountain West Conference power Boise State is in second place with 217 points. Nebraska is fourth with 167 points and the University of Houston is fifth with 83.

Chelsea Fong held-off a late charge from Arkansas' Susanna White for a victory in the 200-IM. The Cupertino, Calif., native posted a winning time of 2:06.26 that was a little more than three-quarters of a second faster than White's 2:07.03. Fong also swam the lead leg of the Owls 400-medley relay, along with teammates Madison Livingston, Casey Clark and Shelby Bottoms, that finished fourth with a time of 3:55.44.

The Owl foursome of Casey Clark, Erin Flanigan, Chelsea Fong and Madison Livingston was fourth in the 800-yard freestyle relay with a season-best mark of 7:39.17. Flanigan was also Rice's top individual finisher in the 500-freestyle with a collegiate-best 4:58.93. Fellow Owl freshman Casey Clark had the Blue & Gray's fastest finish in the 50-yard freestyle with a season-best 24.58.

"Chelsea did a nice job to win that 200-IM and it was good to see Erin improve on her previous time in the 500," said Rice head coach Seth Huston, now in his tenth season at the helm of the Owl swim program. "We came in a little tired after having meets in each of the last two weekends, plus with where we're at in some of our recent training. It will be a long day tomorrow (with 13 more events on the schedule), so we'll have to be mentally tough-enough to get out and race and improve."

Saturday's final day of the meet features two different sessions. The first session features six individual events with two relays and beginning at 9 am. The second session has four individual events and one relay. Springboard diving begins at 11 am and will be held at the University of Houston Rec Center Pool. Saturday's schedule is listed below. All of Friday's results are available on the web at the above link.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.

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