Oct. 16, 2007

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IRVING, Texas - Rice posted a key first and third-place finish in the final race of the day to secure a pair of wins over Northern Colorado and New Mexico State on Saturday. The Owls also grabbed two wins on Friday over the same schools to begin the season at 4-0 in the standings. In other action, East Carolina, Houston and Marshall all picked up their first wins of the young season.

SWIMMER OF THE WEEK (10/16)
BRITTANY MASSENGALE - Rice
Sr., Alma, Ark. (Alma)
Massengale entered five individual events last weekend in the Owls' opening swim meets of the year and won all five of them to help lead her team to four dual meet wins. The senior won the 500- and 1,000-yard freestyle twice in two different meets against New Mexico State and Northern Colorado. Her best times in those events were 4:59.64 in the 500 and 10:11.23 in the 1,000. The Alma, Ark. native also won the 200-yard freestyle over a field of 10 competitors with a time of 1:53.78. As a member of the Rice B 200-yard freestyle relay team, her anchor time helped the Owls claim a come-from-behind win over host New Mexico State in the team scoring. This is the second career C-USA weekly honor for the 2007 All-Conference performer.

2007-08 WEEKLY AWARD WINNERS
O9 S- Angela San Juan Cisneros, SMU
O16 S- Brittany Massengale, Rice

2007-08 C-USA TOP TIMES
For a list of the top C-USA Women's Swimming and Diving times/scores, please go to: https://secure.sportssystems.com/ScoreReporting/cusa/sportID/1/g/w

2008 C-USA SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2008 C-USA Women's Swimming & Diving Championship and Men's Invitational is slated for February 27-March 1 in Houston, Texas. The four-day event will be hostd by Houston at the Campus Recreationa and Wellness Center Natatorium. All five C-USA women's swimming and diving programs will participate in the championship, while East Carolina, SMU and Hawai'i will participate in the men's invitational.

OTHER NOTABLE PERFORMACNES (10/3 - 10/15)
Following is a list of other top performances turned in by Conference USA swimmers last week:

AMANDA DUNCAN - East Carolina
Duncan helped lead the Pirates to a season opening win over Davidson. She claimed first place in both the 100- and 200-yard butterfly events and was a member of the winning 200-yard medley relay team.

PAIGE BISSETT - Houston
Bissett competed in her first collegiate dual meet at Southwestern and helped lead the Cougars to a season-opening win She was one of only two swimmers to win multiple events. The freshman finished first in the 200-yard individual medley and also took first in the 100-yard backstroke. In both events, Bissett finished more than a second ahead of her closest competitor.

MICHAELA SCELI - Marshall
Sceli won the 50- and 100-yard breaststroke against Xavier on Friday. Her time in the 100 breast set an O'Conner Sports Center pool record. She won the 100- and 200-yard breast against Ashland and Hillsdale. She has yet to finish worse than second in any individual event or relay this season.

ANGELA SAN JUAN CISNEROS - SMU
San Juan Cisneros competed in three events at the Mean Green relays, helping set new pool records in two. The senior swam as part of the 400-yard medley relay team that set a new pool record by three and a half seconds and was also part of the foursome that set a new pool record in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The squad bested the previous record by over 12 seconds. In addition, she competed in the 300-yard butterfly relay, helping her squad to an almost-four second victory over TCU.

C-USA RECAP (Through Meets of Oct. 14)
East Carolina
East Carolina opened the season with a victory over Davidson on Saturday. The Pirates recorded a 184-116 victory.

Junior Amanda Duncan claimed first-place both the 100 and 200-yard butterlfy events.

ECU freshman Stephanie Harper claimed first- place in both the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke as did senior diver Christie Icenhower on the one- and three-meter boards.

Other ECU first place finishers included: Alli Miller (100 back), Rachel Blue (200 free), Jenna Stewart (100 free), Rebecca Perry (200 back) and Jackie Jones (200 IM).

ECU will host its first home meet of the season on Saturday, Oct. 20 at Minges Natatorium. The Pirates will welcome N. C. State and William & Mary for a tri-met beginning at 12 p.m

Houston
Freshman Paige Bissett won two individual events to lead a charge of newcomers during the Houston's 116-85 win over Southwestern on Friday at the Robertson Center Natatorium.

Bissett, competing in her first collegiate meet, won the 200-yard individual medley after clocking in at 2:19.08. The Rumson, N.J., native also finished first in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:02.15.

However, she was just part of a Cougar newcomer attack. Freshman Brittany Copeland won the 50-yard freestyle competition with a time of 25.71, while Andrea Kells won the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 59.73.

Freshman Lindsey Graves swam the opening leg on the Cougars' 200-yard freestyle relay team that finished first with a time of 1:45.39.

The freshmen were part of a dominating Cougar team that won seven individual events and one relay event to upend the Pirates for the second straight season. A year ago, UH enjoyed a 105-63 win on Oct. 20, 2006, to push its season-opening winning streak to five straight dual matches.

UH returns to action Oct. 26-27 as they play host to BYU, Florida International, New Orleans and Conference USA rival Rice during the second Phill Hansel Duals Weekend. That two-day meet begins at 5 p.m., Oct. 26 and wraps up Oct. 27.

Marshall
Marshall picked up its first win of the season Saturday, defeating Ashland University 169-129 to split its set of weekend meets. Jenny Johnnson came away with victories in the 200-yard freestyle, 200-yard backstroke and 400-yard individual medley.

Marshall also dominated in the breaststroke as Michaela Sceli and Ally Melinsky finished one-two in both 100- and 200-yard events.

In their first competition of the season the Herd divers finished first, second, fourth and fifth in the one-meter event and took the top four spots in the three-meter.

The Herd fell on Friday to Xavier, 79.5-42.5. Sceli picked up wins in both the 50 and 100-yard breaststroke. The senior won the 50 breast more than a full second ahead of Xavier's Martha Cutter-Wilson, and then bested Cutter-Wilson by more that four seconds in the 100 breast.

The Thundering Herd will be in action again next weekend as it travels to Youngstown, Ohio to face Youngstown State and Wisconsin-Green Bay on Friday and to Pittsburgh to take on Duquesne on Saturday.

Rice
Senior Brittany Massengale won three individual events and the Owls posted a key first and third place in the final race of the day, the 200-yard freestyle relay, to secure a pair of team wins over Northern Colorado and host New Mexico State in the opening swim meets of the season Saturday afternoon in Las Cruces, N.M.

The Owl foursome of Diane Gu, Keri Hyde, Pam Zelnick and Carlyann Miller closed out the weekend double-dual meet by winning the 200-free relay with a time of 1:37.21, just three-fourths of a second ahead of 2nd place New Mexico State. The Rice relays secured a 151-143 victory over NMSU in the day's team scoring. The Owls coasted to a 183-111 over Northern Colorado.

Hyde and Caitlin Warner were first and second, respectively, in the 200-butterfly. Owl sophomore Justine Lin had a big win in the 200-backstroke with a time of 2:09.93, beating three NMSU Aggies who finished second, third and fourth.

The Rice swimmers next compete at the annual Phill Hansel Dual Meets on Oct. 26-27. The meet will be held across town at the University of Houston Aquatics Center.

SMU
SMU dominated the Mean Green Relays at North Texas Oct. 3, winning every event and setting two pool records in the process.

The Mustangs bested previously-held records in both the 400-yard medley relay and the 400-yard free relay. In the 400-yard medley relay, Petra Klosova, Devon Callaghan, Angela San Juan Cisneros and Sascha Van den Branden combined for an overall time of 3:51.39, beating the old record (held since 2004 by a foursome from Texas A&M) by almost four and a half seconds.

In the 400-yard freestyle relay, Jennifer Blackman, Candace Blackman, San Juan Cisneros and Gabriela Soza completed the course in 3:28.84, sinking the old record (held by North Texas since 2004) by over 13 seconds.

SMU finished the day with 140 total points, while North Texas ended with 98 and TCU finished with 82.

The Mustangs are back in action Oct. 26-27 at home as they play host to Wisconsin, Florida State, Texas A&M, Alabama and USC in the SMU Swim Classic at Perkins Natatorium.