MIAMI (Feb. 26, 2014) – The FIU swimming and diving team kicked off action at the Conference USA Swimming and Diving Championships on Wednesday, competing in two events. The Panthers highlight of the night was a second place finish in the 800 freestyle relay.
FIU's finish time of 7:13.43 in the 800 freestyle relay was good for the second best time in school history. Junior
Johanna Gustafsdottir swam the first leg of the relay in 1:46.90, which broke her own school record for the 200 freestyle. Joining her on the relay team was sophomore
Becky Wilde, senior Sonia Perez and junior
Nadia Farrugia.
"We got off to a slow start in the Medley, which was not expected," said head coach
Randy Horner. "We showed a lot of guts and came back strong in the 800 free relay. Johanna's lead off for a record really got us out in the race and the team finished it."
Freshman
Jennifer Alfani, junior
Klara Andersson, freshman
Therese Nord and freshman Jenny Deist posted a mark of 1:43.93, the fifth fastest swim in school history.
The Panthers will be back in action tomorrow, with the first session beginning at 10 a.m.
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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/.
