MIAMI (Jan. 11, 2013) – The FIU swimming and diving team kicked off the 2013 dual meet season with a commanding 198-100 victory against Central Connecticut State University Friday evening at the Biscayne Bay Aquatics Center in Miami, Fla.
"The team performed really well today," FIU Head Coach
Randy Horner said. "At this point in the season, we're training hard and back in class and going full speed, so you really don't know what you're going to get out of the girls. We came out today and swam fast."
In all, the Panthers came away with 12 victories out of 16 events.
Once again leading the way for the Panthers was junior Sonia Perez who took home victories in the 100 Backstroke (59.06), 200 Backstroke (206.20), and the 200 IM in addition to leading off the victorious 200 Medley Relay team.
"She's swimming with a chip on her shoulder and swimming pissed off because she didn't make nationals last year," Horner said of Perez. "That's been her goal ever since she missed qualifying and it's her goal to make it to nationals and every meet we go into, she's proven herself and elevated herself to a different level."
After sitting out the last home meet to do illness, sophomore
Johanna Gustafsdottir returned to the pool stronger than ever with victories in the 200 Freestyle (1:53.36) and the 200 Breaststroke (2:21.55). She also placed second in the 100 Butterfly (59.55) to teammate and senior
Marina Ribi. Ribi won the 100 Fly event with a time of 57.52 in addition to her victory in the 200 Butterfly (2:06.19) earlier in the meet.
Also adding victories against Central Connecticut were sophomore
Courtney Vander Schaaf in the 50 Freestyle (25.12) and
Jessica Chadwick in the 100 Breaststroke (106.17). The victory was the first for Chadwick, a freshman from the United Kingdom.
"She's doing a good job," Horner said of Chadwick. "She has a long way to go but we're seeing a lot of talent and a lot of promise out of her. She keeps getting better every meet."
Junior
Sabrina Beaupre capped off the evening with victories in the 1-meter (280.42) and 3-meter (304.87) diving events.
The Panthers will return to the pool in their second-to-last competition before the conference championships on Saturday, Jan. 19, against Florida Gulf Coast at 11 a.m., at the Biscayne Bay Aquatics Center. Admission to the meet is free of charge.
"We're going to have to beat great teams and some great swimmers in some close races and really come together as a team to win the next few dual meets," Horner said of the next two meets ahead. "We're competing against some really good programs in FGCU, FAU and Indian River College the next two meets. They are important for us to gauge how well we do against some good competition heading into the Sun Belt Conference Championships."
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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/.
