FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. (Dec. 15, 2013) – The FIU women's swimming and diving team wrapped up the second day of the Sharks Invitational by sitting in second place with 622 total points. FIU has two days of competition remaining in the invite, Monday and Tuesday, before hosting Georgia Tech on Thursday.

"We had some serious growth as a team today," said head coach Randy Horner. "The format of this meet is really giving our team a chance to learn to swim a lot of events in a short period of time."

Senior Sonia Perez took home the 400 IM title, as she earned a mark of 4:20.58 to earn 24 points for the Panthers. Sophomore Becky Wilde posted a mark of 4:36.90 in the finals, which was a high enough finish to add to FIU's total points. Senior Sarah D'Antoni, junior Jean Madison and junior Klara Andersson also placed high enough in the finals to earn points for the Panthers.

In the 100 butterfly, freshman Jennifer Deist was FIU's top scorer, posting a time of 58.01 seconds. Freshman Jennifer Alfani, D'Antoni and Andersson also had strong showings for FIU to earn points for the Panthers.

Perez led the way for the Panthers in the 200 freestyle event, as she put up a finals mark of 1:53.21. Junior Johanna Gustafsdottir finished right behind Perez, earning a time of 1:53.66. Junior Courtney Vander Schaaf, Deist and Alfani all had quality enough finishes to earn points for FIU in the 200 freestyle.

In the 200 freestyle relay, FIU's top finish came from Andersson, Alfani, Perez and Gustafsdottir, who put up a time of 1:38.38. Meanwhile, Wilde, Deist, VanderSchaf and Popova earned a time of 1:38.62 to post a solid finish for FIU. In the 400 medley relay, Perez, junior Danielle Meara, Deist and Gustafsdottir posted a time of 3:55.72.

Fans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Twitter (@FIUSwimDive) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSwimmingAndDiving) for all the latest Swimming and Diving news. Follow all of FIU's 18 athletic teams on Google+ (FIU Athletics), Twitter (@FIUAthletics), Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSports), YouTube (FIUPanthers), and
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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 bachelor¹s, master¹s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida¹s 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. FIU has awarded 200,000 degrees and enrolls 50,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.