DES MOINES — Scott Rice raced into the stands, boasting to brother Brent.

"I broke your fly record!" he said of his winning 100-yard butterfly time at last year's Class 3A/2A state boys swim meet.

"Yeah, but you didn't break my IM record!" Brent was quick to counter.

"But I've still got another year to get it!" Scott volleyed back.

It was typical banter between close and competitive brothers born exactly six years apart.

"It was a funny conversation," their mother, Mary Jo, said of the moment. "They both had big grins."

This weekend in the same pool, Scott, a senior at Mount Rainier High School, goes for that other family record, and two more state titles. But Brent will not be among the throng of Rice family there to share the moment, or trade more verbal jabs with his youngest brother.

Nine months ago, Brent Rice died following a car accident when the driver of the car he was in lost control after swerving to avoid a coyote. Brent was 24.

Scott Rice, who was born on Brent's sixth birthday, still stings from the loss. Although he has six other siblings, including three sisters closer in age, he and Brent were especially tight.

JOHN LOK / THE SEATTLE TIMES Mount Rainier's Scott Rice, center, listens to his coach along with other swimmers during a practice at the King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way.

"There was a strong bond between them," Mary Jo said. "Growing up, Brent showed Scott how to do everything."

It took Scott awhile to accept that Brent was gone. His mother remembers him shaking his head when she broke the tragic news and saying, "No, this didn't happen."

But it didn't take long for Scott to turn his grief into grit. The next-to-last of eight Rice children, seven of them swimmers at Mount Rainier, had one final year of high-school competition, and he was going to make it one to remember.

For Brent.

"I dedicated the season to him and I've been working a lot harder than I've ever worked before, just for him," Scott said. "From day one, I just went out and swam my heart out."

Scott was already developing into perhaps the best swimmer in a family of outstanding ones — including Brent, who won a state title in the 200 individual medley as a junior and also broke older brother Jeff's record in the butterfly. Twins Jeff and Jerry started the rich Rice legacy at Mount Rainier from 1990 to 1993. Then came Brian ('93-'96) and Brent ('95-'98). Scott followed two sisters, Kathy ('98-'01) and Kristie ('00-'03), although injuries forced Kathy to focus on running rather than swimming. Maria Rice, a Mount Rainier sophomore who qualified for the girls state swim meet last fall, rounds out the clan.

With determination driven by the death of his closest brother, Scott has been sensational this season.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE RICE FAMILY "If I was slacking off, and playing at the bottom of the pool or something," Scott Rice, left, said, "Brent would get ticked off at me and tell me, 'If I pass you (doing laps), I'm going to beat you up!' So, I tried not to let him."

"He's definitely been a man on a mission," Mount Rainier coach Rick Wertman said. "He has something special to get done this season."

Special. It's a word that applied in many ways to Brent, a gregarious young man who went on to earn All-America honors at Whitworth College in Spokane.

"He had a very contagious personality," Scott said. "He got along with everybody."

Brent was equal parts competitor and comic.

"He had that magical mix of being very competitive, but also very fun-loving," Wertman said. "He liked to interject fun into everything."

For the Rice family, competing is fun — whether it's in the swimming pool or on a hiking trail.

"It's a very competitive family," Wertman said. "When they go hiking, they don't just hike to the top, they race to the top, and then they race down."

When Mary Jo was pregnant with Scott, there was competition between the twins and the two younger boys over deciding the baby's name. All wanted another boy, but the twins preferred the name Doug. Brian and Brent liked Scott. When the boy was born on Brent's birthday, Mary Jo and her husband Jim decided to name him Scott Douglas.

Brent went to kindergarten the next day to tell his classmates the news. "I have twin brothers who were born six minutes apart, but my twin brother and I are six years apart," he said.

Scott always looked up to his older brothers and remembers watching them swim at state when he was just 5 or 6, "Although I didn't really comprehend what was going on." Like the others, Scott had taken swimming lessons at a young age because his parents wanted him to be comfortable around water, especially since his grandparents lived on a lake.

Naturally, the swimming became competitive. Brent made sure it stayed that way for Scott.

"If I was slacking off, and playing at the bottom of the pool or something, Brent would get ticked off at me and tell me, 'If I pass you (doing laps), I'm going to beat you up!' So, I tried not to let him."

JOHN LOK / THE SEATTLE TIMES Scott Rice is the Class 3A/2A state champ in the 100-yard butterfly.

It was Brent who came up with a swimming competition for the boys in the family a few years ago — a 50-yard race with the winner earning an eagle belt buckle.

Last Christmas, Scott won it for the first time, although Brent was not on hand to give him a bad time about it. Scott admits the holidays were difficult.

"There was just something missing," he said. "You just can't replace him."

Scott still has sad moments and doesn't try to avoid them.

"I just let it happen," he said. "I figure it happens for a reason, so I'll always remember. It also helps me to keep working hard in swimming."

Scott, who will swim at the University of Wisconsin next season, wants to make sure the Rice family is remembered at Mount Rainier and hopes to help the Rams capture a third consecutive team title.

"I want to end the Rice legacy with a bang," he said.

He also wants that one last school record that belongs to Brent, the 200 individual medley, and he is certain his brother would approve.

"He would want me to get that record," Scott said.

When he gets it, Scott plans to pump a fist and look into the crowd, where his family will be watching. He'll also probably peer up, certain Brent is looking down at him — with a grin of approval.

Sandy Ringer: 206-464-8294 or sringer@seattletimes.com