Rice Freshman Ella Dyson Goes 4:53/10:01 to Help Owls Sweep SMU, Tulane and North Texas

SMU vs RICE vs TULANE vs NORTH TEXAS (WOMEN’S MEET)

• Friday-Saturday, January 13-14, 2023
• Robson & Lindley Aquatics Center and Barr-McMillion Natatorium, Dallas, TX
• SCY (25 yards)
• Results

TEAM SCORES

• Rice def. SMU 171-161.5
• Rice def. Tulane 247-68
• Rice def. North Texas 254-93
• SMU def. Tulane 244-89
• SMU def. North Texas 275-76
• North Texas def. Tulane 186-161

SMU hosted Rice, Tulane, and North Texas for triple dual meet this past weekend. It was a two-day meet, wherein Rice won against all three opponents. SMU beat Tulane and North Texas, while North Texas beat Tulane.

Rice and SMU split the relays, with Rice winning both the medley relays and SMU both the free relays. In the 400 medley relay, Rice’s Zoe Spitz (54.81), Lily Cramer (1:04.72), Arielle Hayon (53.94), and Lauren McDougall (50.11) teamed up for a 3:43.58, winning the race by well over two seconds. Rice switched it up a bit for the 200 medley relay, moving Cramer to freestyle and having Sini Koivu swim breaststroke. Spitz (25.90), Koivu (29.57), Hayon (23.93), and Cramer (23.82) combined for a 1:43.22, again winning the race comfortably.

In the 200 free relay, Tulane’s Lucrezia Napoletano (23.64), Indra Vandenbussche (23.44), Tiffanie Ruan (23.46), and Johanna Gudmundsdottir (23.33) combined for a 1:33.87 to win the race. The same team in the same order split 50.53, 51.42, 51.22, and 50.98 respectively to win the 400 free relay decisviely with a 3:24.15.

Rice’s Ella Dyson was excellent, sweeping the distance free events. In the 1000 free, Dyson clocked a 10:01.76, winning the race by nearly five seconds. She negative split the race, going 5:03.17 on the first 500, then coming home in 4:58.59 on the back half. She then went on to win the 500 free the following day with a 4:53.07. She once again negative split the race, going 2:26.81 on the first 250 and coming home in 2:26.26.

Rice’s Lauren McDougall won the 200 free in 1:50.24, pulling away from the rest of the field on the back half. McDougall then came in second in the 500 free, touching in 4:53.37, just 0.30 seconds behind Dyson. She then went on to win the 100 free in 51.03, getting out to the early lead and maintaining it through the back half.

SMU’s Luana Alonso swept the fly events on the weekend. She started with the 100 fly, where she posted a 53.81, establishing the early lead then holding off Rice’s Arielle Hayon (54.00) on the second 50. She then went on to touch Hayon out again in the 200 fly, 2:02.31 to 2:02.65. Alonso got out to a big early lead, splitting 57.65 on the first 100 to Hayon’s 59.02. Hayon then ate into that lead on the back half of the race, but it wasn’t quite enough.

Rice’s Zoe Spitz swept the backstroke events, kicking things off with a 54.72 in the 100 back. She was excellent on the second 50, splitting 27.76, which was the fastest second 50 split in the field by a wide margin. Spitz then went on to win the 200 back in 1:58.40, touching as the only swimmer in the field under 2:00.

SMU’s Jenna Watson was another double event winner, first winning the 100 breast with a 1:03.52. She got out to the early lead, swimming a 29.96 on the first 50. Watson then won the 200 IM in 2:04.34, establishing a huge early lead and holding it through the finish.

OTHER EVENT WINNERS

• 50 free: Imogen Meers (Rice)/Johanna Gudmundsdottir (SMU) – 23.75
• 400 IM: Amelia Kane (Rice) – 4:20.99
• 200 breast: Lily Cramer (Rice) – 2:17.71
• 1-meter diving: Nicole Stambo (SMU) – 297.30
• Platform diving: Nicole Stambo (SMU) – 250.50