GUARENAS, VENEZUELA -- FIU Incoming freshman Valentina Gilly (Caracas. Venezuela) has added the title of Venezuelan Amateur Champion to her resume, just three months before she joins the Panthers in the new year. The national championship took place at the Izcaragua Country Club in mid-September.
 
The future Panther advanced to the match play rounds by shooting a 68 in the stroke play portion of the tournament to capture the top seed into the quarterfinal round of match play. She was the only player under par in the stroke play part of the event.
 
In her opening match, she dispatched Sharon Holczer 8 and 6 (leading by height holes with six to play, putting the match out of reach) before narrowly advancing past Maria Barreto 2 up after the 17^th hole. The final match was a 36-hole affair against Agatha Alesson, with Gilly winning 9 and 8.
 
In 2006, Gilly previously helped Venezuela to a team title at the World Team Championship, which was contested in Mexico.
 
She will join the Panthers at the semester break and begin her American collegiate career with FIU in January, when FIU competes on January 29 in the Florida Challenge in Locanto, Florida.

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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/.