Rice takes 22nd in 100 fly at NCAA championships
March 27, 2009 | Men's Swimming & Diving
With each passing day at the 2009 NCAA Swimming & Diving Championships, Scott Rice moves more into his comfort zone.
A day after setting a school record in the 200-yard individual medley, the Wisconsin senior dove into competition in the stroke he specializes in and scored a 22nd-place finish in the 100-yard butterfly.
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Rice clocked a time of 46.83 seconds in the preliminaries Friday morning at the Student Recreation Center Natatorium in College Station, Texas, missing out on a spot in the consolation finals by just .16 seconds.
Austin Staab of Stanford won the national title in the 100 fly, clocking an NCAA- and American-record time of 44.18.
The performance was a strong one for Rice, who entered the meet seeded 27th in the event. A day earlier, he set a UW school record and scored a 32nd-place finish in the 200 IM.
Rice likely will save his best for last, with his final race as a Badger the 200 butterfly that will be contested Saturday. He holds the Badgers' school record in the 200 fly and enters the morning prelims as the No. 8 seed in event.
After his school-record performance of 1:42.53 at the Texas Invitational, Rice was ranked second nationally in the event for much of the next two months. He claimed the Big Ten Conference title in the 200 fly in February, becoming the Badgers' first individual conference champion in 10 years.
