LAKELAND, Fla. (Nov. 10, 2012) – The FIU swim team won a season-high 12 events in a 192-70 triumph over the Florida Southern College Mocs Saturday afternoon in Lakeland, Fla.

"We swam pretty well today," FIU Head Coach Randy Horner said. "I'm pleased with the number of season-best times despite being on the road. I think we are in a good place heading to our mid-season invite in Missouri."

Junior Sonia Perez won three events to bring her season wins total to eight. She swam an FIU season-high time of 4:20.97 in the 400 IM, as the Panthers took the top-three spots in the event, with sophomore Johanna Gustafsdottir and senior  Marina Ribi coming in second and third, respectively. Perez took home first place from her teammates by an impressive margin of 10 seconds in the event. FIU also swept the top-three spots in the 200 Fly and the 200 Breast, with Perez placing first in each of the events.

Freshman Danielle Albright won the first two events of her collegiate career on Saturday afternoon. Her time of 1:53.72 in the 200 Free was a career high as well as the fastest time by any Panther this season. She also cracked the FIU record book, swimming the seventh-fastest time in program history. Her second victory of the day came in the 500
Free with a time of 5:11.07. FIU junior Colleen Quinn (5:15.53) and sophomore Courtney Vander Schaaf (5:16.26) rounded out the top three in the event.

Sophomore Klara Andersson matched her own FIU season-high time of 24.55 in the 50 Free for his second victory in the event this year. She also posted an FIU season-best time of 52.99 with her second-place finish in the 100 Free.

Touching the wall with a finals time of 58.90 in the 100 Back was Gustafsdottir. The time was the second-fastest of the 2012 season by a Panther. She won her fifth event of the season by placing first in the 200 Back with a time of 2:07.23, just three seconds ahead of teammate, freshman Becky Wilde (2:10.13).

Ribi won her fifth event of the year with a time of 1:06.55 in the 100 Breast. Junior Sarah D'Antoni picked up her first win as a Panther, clocking in at 1:00.53 in the 100 Fly, just .38 seconds ahead of senior Chelsie Kidd. Junior Valeriia Popova rounded out the top three in the event, touching in with a time of 1:01.70.

FIU swept both relays, with the team of Gustafsdottir, Meara, Ribi and Andersson starting off the competition with a win in the 200 Medley Relay (1:49.76). Albright, Andersson, Popova and senior Kelly Grace closed out the dual meet in style with a win in the 200 Free Relay (1:38.63). In all, FIU captured 26 of the 34 possible relay points.

The Panthers will return to the pool on Nov. 29, and compete in the three-day Mizzou Invitational hosted by the University of Missouri.  

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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 seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including U.S. Century Bank Arena and Alfonso Field at FIU Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. Its colleges and schools offer more than 180 bachelors, masters and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU is worlds ahead in its local and global engagement, finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission and enrolls nearly 48,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. More than 140,000 alumni live and work in South Florida. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.