Former Owl standout Jada Hallmark is in her second season as an assistant coach after returning to her alma mater.

Hallmark assists with every aspect of the Rice swim program. Her duties include but are not limited to coaching and training the student-athletes, team stategies and assignments for meets, recruiting, team travel and monitoring the Owls' individual academic progress.

When Rice head coach Seth Huston began to look to add the newest member to the coaching staff in the fall of 2006, the search didn't need to go any further than the school's own record book. As a Rice letterwinner from 1998-2001, the former Jada Sanders set the school record in the 200-yard butterfly her senior year and posted some of the program's top times in the individual medley and 200-backstroke.

She joined the Owls' staff after working with the Rice Aquatics Masters program and serving the last few years as the coach of local age groups. Coach Huston said that having an accomplished former record holder join the coaching staff is a tremendous benefit, and that being a former Rice student-athlete she gives her a unique relationship and understanding with the Owls.

"I think Jada has been a great addition to the team," Huston said. "I have known her since she was 12 or 13 as an age group swimmer for Blue Tide Aquatics. I respect Jada's opinions and her competitiveness. She has remained close to the Rice program since she graduated and always maintained a very positive and outgoing presence. Jada can certainly relate to the team members, and I am sure they can relate to her because she knows the demands of being a student-athlete here at Rice."

Hallmark is a native of Kingwood, Texas. At Rice she was a member of Sid Richardson College.

She is married to Patrick Hallmark of Houston, a Rice graduate (Brown College) and 1995 baseball letterman. He currently serves as a volunteer coach for Rice's nationally-ranked baseball program. The couple have two children, Christian, born in May of 2005, and Tanner, born in August of 2007.