ATLANTA (March 1, 2014) – The FIU swimming and diving team wrapped up the Conference USA Swimming and Diving Championships with two event titles on Saturday. Junior Johanna Gustafsdottir and senior Sabrina Beaupre each won individual titles for the Panthers, who were runner-up finishers to Rice. Beaupre won Diver of the Meet while her diving coach, Rio Ramirez, won the conference's Diving Coach of the Year Award.

"I am so proud of these ladies," said Head Coach Randy Horner. "They should be proud of the team's accomplishments in our first year in Conference USA."

Gustafsdottir's victory came in the 200 backstroke. She posted a time of 1:55.05, which is also an NCAA B standard. Beaupre finishes the championships winning two-of-three diving titles. She earned a finals score of 298.40 to win the platform diving championship on Saturday, beating her previous best score set earlier in the year at the Mizzou Invite. Freshman Lily Kaufman finished third in the platform diving, posting a career-best mark of 214.15.

Senior Sonia Perez took second in the 1650 freestyle, where she swam a time of 16:28.83, which is an NCAA B standard and a school record. Her 1000 freestyle split in the event was 9:55.91, a new FIU record. The 400 freestyle relay team consisting of Gustafsdottir, freshman Jennifer Alfani, freshman Jenny Deist and junior Klara Andersson broke the school record. Gustafsdottir's lead-off split time in that event was 50.01, a school record for the 100 freestyle.

In the 200 breaststroke, junior Jean Madison was FIU's top finisher as she posted a career-high time of 2:17.16 in the prelims to qualify her for the finals. Madison's time moved her up to third place in program history for that event. Junior Dani Meara also improved her career-best time to 2:18.48, putting her in fourth place in the Panther record
books.

Senior Sarah D'Antoni had a career-high time of 2:01.13 in the 200 butterfly finals as she was FIU's top finisher. Sophomore Sarah Smith improved her career-best time by over two seconds, earning a mark of 2:07.05.

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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/.