RICE Aquatics - Outside the Lane Lines

Courtesy of www.rice.edu

HOUSTON -- Rice University's Seth Huston was named the 2010 Conference USA Swim Coach of the Year on a vote of the league coaches, the C-USA office announced after conference's championship swimming and diving meet this past weekend.

It is the first C-USA Coach of the Year Award for Huston, who is in his eighth season at the helm of the Owls' program. In 2010 he guided Rice to a third place finish in the C-USA championship meet standings. The Owls were just 15 points from finishing in second place, but the squad earned all of the team's points competing in the swimming events and none for the diving events due to Rice not fielding a diving program.

Huston coached two Owls to individual C-USA Championships this season. Junior Karen Gerken won the league title in the 500-yard freestyle and sophomore Alex O'Brien won the C-USA crown in the 1,650-freestyle. Since Rice joined Conference USA five years ago, Huston has coached four individual league champions and two Rice relays that have won C-USA titles. Earlier this season he guided the Owl swimmers to the team title of the Delta State Invitational meet and a second-place finish at the Nebraska Cornhusker Invitational, and did so without Rice earning any meet points for the springboard diving events.

For the second-consecutive season the National Collegiate Swim Coaches Association (NCSCA) recently recognized Huston's Rice Owls for having the highest composite team grade-point average in all of NCAA Division I Swimming & Diving, including women's or men's programs. Three of the seven student-athletes on the 2010 C-USA All-Academic Swim Team were Rice Owls.

Last fall Rice University showed its commitment to its swim program and its head coach with the opening of its new, state-of-the-art on-campus competition pool at the Gibbs Recreation Center. Huston's Owls went undefeated in two dual meets at their new home venue.