Sept. 26, 2006

HOUSTON, Texas - From his colleagues in college swimming coaching ranks and even from his own co-workers in hallways of the Rice University athletics department, everyone seems to be giving Owl head swim coach Seth Huston a little good-natured ribbing about the youth of the 2006-07 swim team.

With only one senior and 14 of the 19 swimmers on the Owls' roster listed as either freshmen or sophomores, the ribbing ranges from... "Coach your team is so young that they may not be allowed to stay up for evening meets," to "Does the team get milk or juice after the meets?" to "Hey coach in 2009 your team is going to be great...and voting age too!"

Huston, now in his fifth year at the helm of the program, smiles and takes it all in stride. The Owls' head coach has a good sense of humor but his smile, however, is a knowing one.

Huston knows that even though the squad is young, this Owl team may be even better than last year's group that set three new school records, had its most NCAA automatic & provisional qualifiers in his tenure and its most dual meet victories in years.

"Last year we had some question marks about the upcoming season, but this year we return a team that is full of conference finalists and NCAA provisional qualifiers, particularly in the freestyle," Huston said. "Our relays return very, very close to full strength, and four of the relays all had the second-fastest times in school history.

"We're also coming off the best summer of training and competing in my four years at Rice. We had four swimmers compete at USA Senior Nationals and, for the first time ever, Rice Swimming had an athlete compete for the United States national team.

"We're young," Huston added, "but we're talented and I really like this team."

The Owls are looking forward to the challenge of battling for the C-USA title and scoring big at the NCAA Championships. Here is a preview of each of the events.

FREESTYLE
The Owls will once again be very competitive, from the 50 to the mile. The Blue and Gray was strong in the distance events a year ago but the team will be even stronger in 2007. Junior Brittany Massengale, the Rice record holder in the 500, the 1,000 and the mile, is coming off an exceptional summer where she gained international experience by competing for the U.S. national team at the Open Water World Championships in Italy. Add junior Carey Hain and sophomore Caitlin Warner and the Owls suddenly have an experienced scoring punch in the distance events.

The sprints will be anchored by the talented sophomore duo of Diane Gu and Carlyann Miller. Gu was an automatic qualifier in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 22.78, the second-fastest time in Rice history and the 22nd fastest time in the nation last season. The standout from Orlando, Fla., also swam the 100 at the NCAAs with the third-fastest time in Rice history (50.69). Miller is the team's top returner in both the 100 and 200. She looks to improve, including a 100 (50.66) that was the second-fastest in school history. Versatile freshman Megan Land (Cumming, Ga.) will get chances to compete in everything from the 50 to the 500.

BREASTSTROKE
The Owls' veteran trio of senior Andrea Hurn, junior Jennifer Hill and sophomore Hannah Blakely all return to the starting blocks after scoring for the team at the C-USA Championships a year ago. They will be pushed by an incoming trio of freshmen consisting of U.S. Open finalist Pam Zelnick (Troy, Ohio), along with junior national qualifiers Allyson Lemay (Austin) and Stephanie Eberhardt (Sugar Land).

BACKSTROKE
Junior Amy Halsey, a conference finalist in the backstroke in two different leagues, owns the second-fastest times in Rice history in both the 100 and 200. The sophomore tandem of Skylar Craig and Keri Hyde were solid performers in the event last season and now they are getting some added support. True freshmen Justine Lin (Dallas) and Angela Wo can make a contribution here in their first season at the Division I level. In fact be sure to keep an eye on Lin in the 200 where she just missed qualifying for the Senior Nationals over the summer.

BUTTERFLY
Each of the Owls' top three flyers, Skylar Craig, Natalie Kirchhoff and Keri Hyde, return in 2006-07. Craig had the team's top time in the 100 and Kirchhoff paced the squad in 200. Rice bolstered its depth in the event with the addition of talented freshmen Erin Mattson (Highland, Ill.) and Angela Wo.

INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY
Hill has improved throughout her college career, culminating with her leading the team in both the 200 and 400. Halsey could see action in both events while Hurn can race in the 200 and distance specialist Massengale in the 400. Top to bottom, Huston and the Owls have a number of options.

RELAYS
The interesting fact about the Rice relays this season is that it has been quite a while since Rice has had this many swimmers who are this good. Where coach Huston does not expect to lose any speed because almost all of the key personnel is back in place, he may now have a situation where the A, B and C relays are now all curiously close in skill. Certainly the 800-free, with its returning lineup of Miller, Hain, Massengale and Warner is hungry for the school record that eluded them a year ago by eight one-hundredths of a second. Both medlies, with Halsey, Hurn, Craig and Gu, are rock solid.

SCHEDULE
This year's schedule is going to be exciting. The Owls open with a trip to Denver, Col., the second week of October. After a dual meet with the University of Denver, the Owls follow that meet up with three days of workouts at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.

Rice returns home for a dual meet against Top 10 foe and C-USA defending champion, SMU (Oct. 27). The following weekend is a meet at the University of Houston that features New Orleans and Nevada, an old rival from the Western Athletic Conference. The fall rounds out with a trip to Bloomington for the Indiana Invitational and national power Texas A&M in College Station.

The spring starts with a dual meet against Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton and then two home meets against New Mexico State and Miami (Fla.). The final meet is a double-dual against LSU and Houston in Baton Rouge. The season wraps up with the C-USA Championships across town at UH followed by NCAA Championships at the University of Minnesota.

"It's a great schedule and I think we have the team to match," Huston said. "This team may surprise a few people, with maybe the exception of me. Our depth is the best its been since I've been here and I can see a lot of success for our program, long-term and short-term. I'm anxious to start this season."

Youth may indeed be served for Rice swimming, giving Huston and the Owls the last laugh.