COLUMBIA, Mo. (Nov. 21, 2013) – The FIU women's swimming and diving team opened up the Mizzou Invite in excellent fashion on Thursday, breaking several records. The night was highlighted by performances from junior Johnanna Gustafsdottir and senior Sonia Perez in the 200 IM.

In the preliminaries of the 200 IM, Perez clocked in at 2:00.25, which was just shy of the school record; however, the senior came back in the finals to break the school mark with a time of 1:58.65. Nevertheless, Gustafsdottir, who owned the previous school record, re-broke it with a mark of 1:58.27. Gustafsdottir's school record is just shy of the C-USA record, which is 1:58.08 by Therese Svendsen of SMU in 2012. Gustafsdottir's time currently ranks sixth in the nation, while Perez's mark ranks eighth. Additionally, Perez and Gustafsdottir each achieved NCAA "B" Standards.

FIU was very successful in the relays as well. Gustafsdottir, junior Courtney Vander Schaaf, freshman Jennifer Alfani and junior Klara Andersson earned a mark of 1:33.58 in the 200 freestyle relay, which is a school record.

"We accomplished what we set out to do today," said head coach Randy Horner. "We are swimming well and are putting everything we have been working on to the test. For midseason, I'm pleased with our progress."

FIU had four swimmers qualify for the 100 butterfly prelim finals. Alfani was the top finisher for the Panthers, earning a time of 55.89 seconds, crushing the top time for the Panthers this season in that event and it ranks fourth all-time in FIU's record book. Additionally, freshmen Jenny Deist and Therese Nord each set personal bests in the event.

The Panthers had a nice showing in the 500 prelims as well. VanderSchaaf and junior Nadia Farrugia took over the No. 1 and 2 spots for FIU's top times this season. VanderSchaaf initially set FIU's top time in the preliminaries, earning a mark of 4:57.70. Farrugia came back in the finals with a time of 4:56.97.

Andersson, senior Valeriia Popova, Alfani and Deist each earned times under 24 seconds in the 50 freestyle swim to earn the top four times for FIU this season. Alfani posted FIU's top time of the day, 23.41 seconds, clipping Andersson in the prelims by just .02 seconds (23.43).  Deist posted a finals time of 23.91 seconds, while Popova finished the finals in 23.97 seconds.

Senior Sabrina Beaupre earned 280.20 points in the 3-meter diving.

The Panthers currently sit in fifth place out of 12 teams. FIU will continue action at the Mizzou invite on Friday morning, extending into Friday night.