After two days of competition, the standings for the Phill Hansel Invite, which is hosted by the University of Houston, are as follows:
| Rice | 773.5 |
| Tulane | 584 |
| UC Davis | 572 |
| Houston | 519 |
| Oregon State | 503 |
| Colorado State | 476.5 |
| North Texas | 394.5 |
| New Mexico State | 366.5 |
| Idaho | 358 |
| Northern Colorado | 183 |
The Rice Owls have a solid lead going into day three of competition. Here is what has gotten them there:
Day 1 Finals Recap (Thursday):
The UC Davis Aggies won the 200 free in 1:33.18 with the team of Mia Facey, Brittany Rojo, Courtney Schultz, and Kristen Brand. They were followed by Tulane and Oregon State.
The women’s 500 free saw the first NCAA “B” cut of the session, with Sammy Harrison of Oregon State touching in 4:46.08. She was followed by Rice’s Sydney Franzen and Houston’s Delia Weber (4:51.61, 4:52.56).
The A final of the 50 free saw all eight swimmers within on second of each other. Mia Schachter won with a NCAA “B” cut in 22.93. She was followed by Brand and Schultz of UC Davis.
Jaecey Parham of Rice won the 200 IM in 2:02.67. She also had a strong relay presence on the day. She anhored the 4th place 200 free rlay for the Owls (23.10) as well as the first play 400 medley relay at the end of the meet (50.51). Eleanna Koutsouveli of Houston and Dorottya Lennert of New Mexico State came in second and third.
There was a city of Houston show down between Rice and Houston in the 400 medley relay, in which Rice bested Houston by less than half a second (3:43.03 to 3:43.51). After the first day of competition the top three teams were Rice, Tulane and UC Davis.
Day 2 Finals Recap (Friday):
UC Davis open’s Friday’s finals session in similar style to their Thursday session, winning the 200 medley relay by 6/100 of a second- narrowly touching out the host team 1:42.04 to 1:42.10. UC Davis’s Brand’s 22.55 split in the 50 free was the fastest in the pool, cementing the victory for her team.
In the first individual final of the night, sophomore Kaitlyn Swinney earned herself a NCAA “B” cut in the 400 IM, touching in 4:17.38, and winning the event for the Owls. This time was the second fastest in school history, and is the fastest any Owl has been in the past four years. Solie Laughlin and Eva Chung, both of UC Davis, rounded out the top three- touching in 4:21.66 and 4:23.56, respectively.
The 100 fly saw two swimmers earning their provisional NCAA “B” cuts. New Mexico State senior Dorottya Lennert touched in 53.71, getting the win for her team. Rice’s Kiley Beall also earned a “B” cut. Elanor Sills of Tulane rounded out the top three.
Both North Texas and Oregon State had their first top three finishes of the session, with Harrison of Oregon State winning the 200 free in 1:48.14. She was followed by Rice sophomore Alicia Caldwell and Isabelle Morris of North Texas (1:48.94). Morris’s finish was not only a season best, but also made her the third-fastest swimmer in the North Texas program history in the event.
Ashley Grijalva won the Houston Cougar’s their first individual event on the day, touching in 1:01.74 in the 100 breast and earning a NCAA “B” and breaking the school record to boot. The race for second was very close with North Texas’s Sarah Vaisse and Tulane’s Schachter finishing in 1:02.73 and 1:02.76. Both were less than half a second off the NCAA “B” standard in the event.
Rice dominated the 100 back, where Caldwell and Beall continued their strong performance for the weekend by taking first and second (54.43, 54.94). Laughlin touched third in 55.00. All three of the top finishers were under the B cut.
Caldwell and her Rice team mates Franzen, Anniina Ala-Seppala and Parham turned around to win the 800 free relay in 7:22.13. UC Davis and Oregon state’s relays also earned top three honors.
The teams return for the final day of competition on Saturday.
