ROCKWALL, Texas (February 28, 2013) – The FIU swimming and diving team sits in third place after day two of the Sun Belt Conference Swimming and Diving Championships.
 
"The ladies battled hard today," FIU Head Coach Randy Horner said. "We fell short of a few goals, but we were extremely happy with Klara [Andersson] winning the 50 free as well as Sabrina [Beaupre] winning the 3-meter dive. Our depth in placing four girls in the top eight in the 200 IM was also very impressive. Tomorrow should be a good day for the Panthers, as we compete in some of our best events."
 
FIU junior Sonia Perez started day two in style by breaking her own school record in the 500 free. She touched the wall at 4:48.33 in the prelims, improving on her old score by almost two seconds.
 
The Panthers tallied a pair of first-place finishes as sophomore Klara Andersson won the 50 free and junior Sabrina Beaupre, the reigning SBC Diver of the Year, came in first in the 3-meter diving with a 328.60 score. Anderson's time of 23.34 in the 50 free broke a five-year-old FIU record held by South African Olympian Trudi Maree. Beaupre's time was also .05 points off setting a new SBC Championship record.
 
Another FIU record fell in the 200 Free Relay when the team of Andersson, Valeriia Popova, Courtney Vander Schaaf and Marina Ribi finished with a time of 1:33.99, besting the old FIU record by almost a full second.
 
Sophomore Johanna Gustafsdottir placed second in the 200 IM with a time of 1:59.36, an NCAA 'B' standard time.
 
Action resumes on Friday with the Prelims and Finals of the 400 IM, 100 fly, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back and 1-meter diving. Be sure to check http://www.sunbeltsports.org/CHAMPIONSHIPS/2012-2013Championships/Winter/WSwimmingDiving.aspx for all the latest results.
 
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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/.