R Athletic Heritage Athletic Highlights • Morris Almond, was the 25th pick in the • Rice has won individual national titles in • The first NCAA team championship for first round by the Utah Jazz in the 2007 men’s tennis (two singles and two doubles), Rice, occurred in 2003, when the Owls won NBA Draft. He became the first Rice Owl to women’s tennis (doubles), men’s track and the College World Series. be selected in the first round since Ricky field and women’s track and field. Pierce was the 18th overall pick in the 1982 • The 1946 football Owls were Southwest NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons. Almond is • The Owls have won a total of 75 Conference co-champions and went on to one of 20 men’s basketball players to play conference titles. defeat Tennessee in the Orange Bowl. professionally since 1992. • 495 Owls have earned All-America • In 2000, Rice won an unprecedented • Team captain Larry Izzo has won three honors. six Western Athletic Conference titles. Super Bowl rings as a member of the New The Owls were victorious in women’s England Patriots. More than 50 Owls have • Rice has been represented at 11 Olympics basketball, men’s and women’s cross played in the NFL. by 20 different athletes, dating back to the country, women’s indoor and outdoor track 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. and field, and baseball. • Rice’s women’s basketball team has been to the “Big Dance” twice after winning the • A total of 16 Owls have been drafted in 2000 and 2005 WAC Championship to earn the first round by Major League Baseball the league’s NCAA automatic bid. clubs. • Marla Brumfield was drafted by the • Trevor Cobb won the Doak Walker Award Minnesota Lynx in 2000 and spent three in 1991 as the nation’s top running back. He years in the WNBA. was a two-time All-America and a three- time most valuable player for the Owls. Doak Walker presents Trevor Cobb the Doak Walker In 1995, Sammy Waldron became Rice’s first vol- Fred Hansen won the gold medal in the pole vault at Trophy as the nation’s best running back for 1991. leyball All-America selection. the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. The 2003 baseball team won the NCAA championship to capture Rice’s first Morris Almond was a first round draft pick of the NBA’s Utah Jazz. team title in any sport. 8 2009 RICE OWLS BASEBALL Athletic Heritage R Regina Cavanaugh was a six-time NCAA champion and eight-time All-America in the shot put. Funmi Jimoh made the United States Olympic Team in the long jump and represented her country Larry Izzo has won three Super Bowls with the New England Patriots. (and Rice) at the 2008 Olympics in China. The Beijing Olympics was the sixth-consecutive Olym- piad to have at least one Rice women’s track & field athlete in the competition. Rice’s Mike Wilks won an NBA title with the 2005 San Antonio Spurs. Rice Owl Norm Charlton won the World Series with the Cincinnati Reds in 1990. All-Star Lance Berkman hit 41 home runs in his junior season at Rice and is considered one of Major League Baseball’s best hitters. 2009 RICE OWLS BASEBALL 9 R 2007-08 Year In Review It was another banner year for Rice Jim Bevan. “To win all three, you have to athletics during the 2007-08 season. For have a balance team, stay healthy, and starters, Wayne Graham’s baseball Owls then compete at a high level three different won another league championship by times. It’s difficult to achieve excellence capturing the Conference USA regular three times a year, but it says a lot about season title. Rice again swept through the our training system, our coaching staff, and NCAA Regional and Super Regional to earn our support staff, especially the athletic its third-consecutive trip to the College trainers and team doctors.” World Series and seventh overall. The Owls have now played in the NCAA baseball This is the second time that Rice has tournament 14-straight years. Graham also completed the trifecta in school history. was named C-USA Coach of the Year for The first instance occurred in 1999-2000, the third-straight time. under the direction of Victor Lopez, when Bruno Rosa. the Owls competed in the Western Athletic NCAA tournament and advanced to the The Owls’ women’s track and field Conference. It was also the first time in second round. Sophomore number one teams won the triple crown in capturing C-USA for a team to win all three titles singles player Bruno Rosa achieved All- Conference USA championships in cross since 1995-96. America status and played in the NCAA country, indoor track and field, and outdoor singles tournament advancing to the track and field. Bevan, last year, was named Conference second round. Rice’s doubles team of USA Coach of the Year for cross country, Christoph Müller and Ralph Knupfer played Only one other school in America out of 32 indoor track and field, and for outdoor track in the NCAA doubles tournament and conferences accomplished what the Owls and field. He was also named NCAA South earned C-USA’s Most Outstanding Doubles did and that was Western Kentucky in the Central Regional Coach of the Year for Team. The Rice women’s tennis squad won Sun Belt Conference. cross country. a school-record 17 matches . “Every year you have three opportunities Rice men’s tennis program under head to win a championship,” says head coach coach Ron Smarr earned its sixth straight Brittany Massengale. For the second-straight season, Seth Huston’s swimming team placed second in C-USA. Senior swimmer Brittany Massengale became the Owls first swimming All-America since 2003, after qualifying ninth in the 500-yard freestyle at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championship. Massengale and Carlyann Miller qualified for the United States Olympic Trials for a chance to go to the Olympics in Beijing. Individually, several Owls earned athletic accolades last year. Senior wide receiver Jarett Dillard again earned first team We Are The Champions. Rice won the triple crown in winning Conference USA team titles in cross country, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field (above) in 2007-08. All-CUSA honors, while tight end James 10 2009 RICE OWLS BASEBALL 2007-08 Year In Review R champions. He was also the 13th right- the Year Awards for their respective sports. handed pitcher taken overall. Furthermore, Daniels was named to the Academic All-America first Valeriya Berezhynska was chosen by team and distance the Detroit Shock with the 42nd pick runner Brett Olson during the third round of the WNBA Draft. was selected to Berezhynska became only the third Owl the Academic All- all-time to be selected in the WNBA Draft. America second Marla Brumfield and Kirra Jordan were team. previous Owls drafted in 2000, by the Minnesota Lynx and Seattle Storm, respectively. In track and field, seniorRachel Greff placed fifth in the pole vault Jarett Dillard. at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championship to earn All- America status. Sophomore pole vaulter Jason Colwick sported the nation’s number-one mark Valeriya Berezhynska. last season at 18’ 2.5.” Freshman Becky Wade won the 3000m Casey was named to the Football Writers steeplechase at the U.S. Association of America Freshman All- Junior Outdoor Track and Field American Football Team and to The Sporting Championship. The victory News Freshman All-America second-team. earned her a spot on the U.S. Junior Also earning freshman All-America honors National Team that competed in was shortstop Rick Hague by the National Poland at the 12th IAAF World Junior Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. Championships. Junior right-handed pitcher Bryan Price was the 45th player selected overall on Rice cross country athletes Marissa the opening day of the 2008 Major League Daniels and Brad Morris along Baseball amateur draft. Price was taken with men’s basketball player by the Boston Red Sox in the supplemental Paulius Packevicius were round, the so called “sandwich” round named recipients of the 2007- between the draft’s official first and second 08 C-USA Scholar Athlete of round. He was the first pitcher taken by the Red Sox, the defending World Series Rice baseball, in 2008, won the Conference USA regular season championship and swept through the NCAA Regional and NCAA Super Regional to advance to its third-straight College World Series. 2009 RICE OWLS BASEBALL 11 R Rice University Vision for the Second With its dual commitment to excellent teaching The Student Experience and research innovation, Rice attracts Rice undergraduates rank among the finest Century extraordinary professors dedicated both to In order to continue to achieve educational in the country. Each year, more than 700 new working with undergraduates in the classroom students are selected from an applicant pool of excellence in Rice’s second century, the and to advancing knowledge and understanding. university established the Vision for the Second approximately 9,000. Sixty-eight percent of the This ensures that each Rice student has direct freshmen in 2007 ranked in the top 5 percent of Century (V2C) in 2005. This 10-point strategic contact with professors who, through their treatise sets forth goals that aim to renew the their high school classes, 75 percent had SAT writing and research, have gained acclaim as I scores of 1330 or better and 25 percent were university’s focus on research, provide an some of the most scholarly minds in their fields.