Meet Update (Day One of Two)
FIU 161.5, Illinois 61.5
Friday, November 3 | 5 p.m. | North Miami, Fla. | Biscayne Bay Aquatic Center

The Basics

-        FIU won nine of the 12 events to take a 100-point lead, 161.5-61.5, over visiting Illinois Friday in their two-day dual at the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Center.

-        The Panthers won the first four events, surging out to a 63-11 lead and continued the trend through the first half of the meet.

-        FIU's 200 Medley Relay team of Naomi Ruele (Gaborone, Botswana), Taylor Grabenhorst (Orlando, Florida / Timber Creek), Letizia Bertelli (Cremona, Italy) and Kelsie Campbell (Nottingham, England) wrangled 11 points for first in that event to start the evening.

-        The Panthers then went 1-2-3 in the second and third events, the 500 Free and 50 Breast to surge ahead of the Illini. Kyna Pereira (Umkomaas, South Africa) was first in the 500 Free, at 4:59.74, followed by freshman Anna Topolanski (Paris, France) and senior Skye Carey (Satellite Beach, Florida / Satellite HS), both coming in under 5:03. The 50 Breast was captured by freshman Sara Gyertyanffy (Desenzano, Italy), who shaved more than half a second off of her season-best time for the win and nine team points. Sophomore Carlita Luukkanen (Lambere, Finland) and Grabenhorst rounded out the top three.

-        The Panthers went 1-2-3 in the 200 Breast and 50 Fly and 1-meter diving events to round out the dominant start.

-        The day was capped off by a 400 Free Relay win in a season-best time of 3:27.13 by the foursome of Gyertyanffy, Bertelli, Pereira and Ruele.

-        Other first-place finishers…

o   Luukkanen won the 200 Breast in a season-fastest 2:16.69

o   Bertelli quickened her season-best pace by a tenth of a second in the 50 Fly (25.10)

o   Ruele was a second and a half faster than second place in the 100 Back, at 56.06

o   Senior Rebecca Quesnel (Burlington, Ontario, Canada) posted another NCAA Zone-Qualifying score of 276.52 in the 1-meter springboard for first place. All three Panthers had a score above the qualifying standard, with freshman Rachel Foord (Melborne, Australia) second at 273.67 and sophomore Brooke Bouchard (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada) came in third, at 266.40.

From the Pool Deck
"This was the team I have been waiting to see this season," said FIU Head Coach Randy Horner. "The energy was good and we stepped up and raced across the board. I don't think we had a bad race today and that's hard to do."

Next Up
Action begins at 11 a.m. for day two to conclude the dual with the Illini. 3-meter diving, along with 10 other swimming events takes place Saturday morning.

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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in eight different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including Lime Court at FIU Arena and Riccardo Silva Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is classified by Carnegie as a "R1: Doctoral Universities - Highest Research Activity" and recognized as a Carnegie Community Engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as business, engineering, computer science, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes almost $9 billion each year to the local economy and is ranked second in Florida in Forbes Magazine's "America's Best Employers" list. FIU graduates are consistently among the highest paid college graduates in Florida and are among the leaders of public and private organizations throughout South Florida. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission with multiple state-of-the-art research facilities including the Wall of Wind Research and Testing Facility, FIU's Medina Aquarius Program and the Advanced Materials Engineering Research Institute.  FIU has awarded more than 220,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, the Miami Beach Urban Studios, and Tianjin, China. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and more than 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.