Denton, TX, November 1, 2014 – The defending Conference USA Champions, the Rice University Lady Owls, fell to the Mean Green of the University of North Texas today at Pohl Recreation Center, in what could be termed a mild upset. The scoring was a back-and-forth battle throughout the meet, but the Mean Green ended up on top, 151 to 140, giving North Texas its best start (3-1) in the program’s 16-year history.
The relays were split, as the North Texas women won the 200 Medley Relay in a time of 1:47.27, while the Lady Owls pulled out the win in the 400 Free Relay (3:33.31), so, at the end of the day, it was left to the individual events to determine the overall team point standings.
Just a handful of names comprised the majority of victories for those individual events during today’s competition. Rice University senior, Erin Flanigan, earned three individual wins with her first place finishes in the 1000 freestyle (10:24.51), the 200 butterfly (2:05.97), and the 500 freestyle (5:02.20). Her teammate, senior Casey Clark, earned three wins of her own by topping the field in the 200 freestyle (1:52.19), the 100 freestyle (52.41), and the 100 butterfly (56.16).
However, the Mean Green had its own three-event winner in the form of senior Krista Rossum. Rossum won the 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:05.62, the 200 breaststroke in a time of 2:21.12, as well as the 200 IM with the top time of 2:04.37. Additionally, German Senior Mona Groteguth swept the two backstroke events by clocking a 56.79 and 2:02.29 in the 100 and 200 distances, respectively.
The Mean Green Freshman from Toronto, Isabelle Morris, also helped the North Texas cause by earning a second place finish in the 200 freestyle in a time of 1:52.62 and winning the splash and dash 50 with the top time of 24.71.
UNT took command of the meet in event 14 out of 16, with a 1-2 finish from divers Jasmine Abercrombie and Allison Crites. Rice doesn’t have any divers on their roster, and in total UNT scored 29 points on the boards. In that 1-meter event, their lead went from 2 points to 15, and Rossum’s win in the 200 IM in the next race made the margin 16 – meaning only a double DQ could upset the Mean Green’s victory.
As for their next competitions, The University of North Texas Mean Green and the Lady Owls of Rice University each head to the University of Houston’s annual Phil Hansel Invitational beginning November 21st.