HOUSTON, December 3. THREE female high school seniors have signed national letters of intent to swim at Rice University next season, head coach Seth Huston announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Rice abolished its men's team, ostensibly to comply with Title IX require2ments.<\/p>\n
Joining the Owls in fall 2003 will be Denise Bear (Orlando, Fla.\/Trinity Prep), Andrea Hurn (Livonia, Mich.\/Stevenson HS) and Jenny Whitcomb (Orlando, Fla.\/Lake Highland Prep).<\/p>\n
The three signees are expected to help bolster a young Owls team that will lose only one senior to graduation after this season.<\/p>\n
Bear, a two-time U.S. Swimming academic all-America selection, chose Rice over Notre Dame and Princeton. She is a three-time senior national qualifier, with personal-best times of 56.54 and 2:02.48 in the 100 and 200 butterfly, respectively. <\/p>\n
"Denise is a great addition to our program," said Huston. "She is so positive and friendly and has such a great team-first attitude. She will really help make us a better team."<\/p>\n
Hurn picked the Owls over such schools as Brigham Young, Northern Arizona, Truman State and Villanova. She was a state champion in the 500 freestyle this year, and owns personal bests of 52.88 and 4:58.94 in the 100 and 500 free, respectively.<\/p>\n
"Andrea, as proven by her recent high school state championships, will really contribute to Rice swimming. I think her best swimming is ahead of her in college. She is very versatile, so we will utilize her in many different events."<\/p>\n
Whitcomb was twice a state finalist in both the 200 and 500 free, while also earning two-time honorable-mention all-America status in the 500 free. She is an eight-time junior national qualifier, and Whitcomb chose Rice over Pepperdine and Davidson.<\/p>\n
"Jenny will be a great addition to the Rice swimming team. She can swim any freestyle event from the 100 to the mile. She is very determined and has experienced a lot of adversity as a high school\/club swimmer. I believe this will help her as a college swimmer."<\/p>\n
The Owls have swum their way to a 3-2 dual-meet record this season, notching victories over North Texas, Houston and San Jose State, while dropping their only meets to top-10 powers California and Texas.<\/p>\n
Rice is off this week and will return to action Dec. 5-7 in the UT Invitational in Austin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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