KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (Feb. 18, 2015) – The FIU swimming and diving team completed day one of the Conference USA Championships with two relay events taking place. The Panthers sit in third place overall, 10 points behind leaders Rice and Western Kentucky.
"Today was a good start to the meet for us," said Head Coach
Randy Horner. "We swam fast even though we fell short on our goals to win at least one relay tonight. The school record in the medley relay was solid and we made some experience errors in the 800 free relay. That is one race you have to be disciplined and we were a bit amped up. We will be ready to go tomorrow in prelims."
Freshman
Silvia Scalia, senior
Klara Andersson, freshman
Letizia Bertelli and sophomore
Jennifer Deist earned a third-place finish in the 200 medley relay, posting a school-record time of 1:39.28. The group's time of breaks the previous mark of 1:41.78, earned by Scalia, Andersson, Deist and freshman
Jennifer Alfani at the Mizzou Invite back in November.
In the 800 freestyle relay, senior
Johanna Gustafsdottir, junior
Karin Tomeckova, freshman
Skye Carey and Scalia posted a mark of 7:13.17, the second-fastest time in program history. Gustafsdottir's leadoff time of 1:46.96, which counts as a 200 freestyle swim, fell .06 second short of her own school record. The 1:46.96 200 freestyle time for Gustafsdottir is a team-best this season.
The Panthers will be back in action on Wednesday at 11:30 p.m. ET.
Fans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Twitter (@FIUSwimDive), Instagram (FIU_SWIM_DIVE) and become a fan on Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSwimmingAndDiving) for all the latest Swimming and Diving news.
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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 FIU Arena and Ocean Bank Field at FIU Stadium.About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers 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 Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes $9.8 billion each year to the local economy. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded over 200,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has over 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.
