The University of the Incarnate Word Christmas Invitational came to a close yesterday, but not without the Rice University women putting the finishing touches on their commanding win. The Owl women ended the meet on top of a late-surging host team, the University of the Incarnate Word, 2273.5 to 1357, while the University of North Texas was left in third (1253.4) and the University of Houston remained in fourth place with 971.5 points. For the men’s competition, the University of the Incarnate Word topped the Missouri University of Science and Technology, 2533 to 1078.
The Rice University Women claimed wins in four of Sunday’s final events, starting with a victory by Erin Flanigan in the 1650y freestyle. Her time of 16:31.21 simply obliterated the competition by about 45 seconds, falling just short of the NCAA B cut of 16:30.59. Rice’s Casey Clark doubled up on the day, winning both the 100y freestyle (49.56) and 200y butterfly (2:00.66) events for the Owl women, while the Owl “A” relay sealed the deal in their 400y freestyle relay in a winning time of 3:23.40. That makes quite a weekend haul for Clark, who came away with four individual event wins (200y IM, 100y fly, 100y free, 200y fly) and wins as a member of all five relays for the Owls.
Mona Groteguth from University of North Texas managed a win in the women’s 200y backstroke, mighty handily at that, earning first place with an NCAA “B” cut time of 1:58.63. Groteguth had already cleared the “B” standard earlier in the prelims, where she clocked a 1:56.20 in the event.
Incarnate Word’s Alona Keysolova (Ukraine) earned the women’s 200y breaststroke win in her time of 2:14.74, which earned her an NCAA “B” cut. That time also annihilated the school record of 2:18.56 previously held by Casey Hurrell-Zitelman from 2011. Rice’s Rachel Moody followed closely behind with a “B” cut-clearing time of her own, 2:15.63.
It was a one-sided story for the men’s portion of the meet, as Incarnate Word won every individual event on Sunday. This started with a personal best time by David Santos in the 1650y freestyle in 15:58.60 to be the only competitor to dip under the 16:00 mark.
Ben Brouwer earned the second individual win for Incarnate Word in the 200y backstroke, winning in a season-best 1:54.10. Teammate Mehdi El Hazzazz topped the men’s 100y freestyle field in a time of 45.74, while David Moore claimed victory in the men’s 200y breaststroke with his time of 2:01.77
The Missouri University of S&T was able to come away with the men’s 400y freestyle relay win, however, as the foursome of Dakota Anderson, Al Kerc, Erik Nielsen, and Keith Sponsler combined to touch the wall first in 3:02.83.