NAPLES, Fla. (Jan. 25, 2014) – The FIU swimming and diving team dropped its first dual meet of the season, a 189.5-109.5 loss to the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles on Saturday afternoon. The Panthers won five events on the day, with three of those coming from senior Sonia Perez and the other two coming in diving from senior Sabrina Beaupre.
 
"We got beat pretty well today," said head coach Randy Horner. "FGCU swam very well.  We will take this loss and use it to make us better down the stretch."
 
Perez took home titles in the 1000 freestyle, 500 freestyle and 400 IM. She kicked off the meet with a time of 10:07.06 in the 1000 freestyle, which is an FIU school record. She beats her previous mark of 10:11.36 set in 2012 at the Sharks Invitational. Perez's next win came in the 500 freestyle, where she posted a mark of 4:57.06. Her dominance in the IM events continued, as she won the 400 IM by over nine seconds, earning a mark of 4:19.44.
 
"Sonia had the best dual meet of any athlete I've ever coached," said Horner. "She not only won three events, but did so with dominance.  Swimming the 1000 freestyle (10:07), 500 freestyle (4:57) and 400IM (4:19) are a tough combination in a dual.  She then topped it off with a 52-second split on the free relay.  What a performance."
 
FIU has one more regular season meet, at FAU next weekend, remaining in the regular season. The Panthers will then have a month off until the C-USA Championships, which take place Feb. 26-March 1.
 
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 Twitter (@FIUAthletics), Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSports), YouTube (FIUPanthers), and Instagram (FIUathletics)
 
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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 bachelor's, master's 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/.