KNOXVILLE, Tenn.  (Feb. 20, 2015) – Following a stellar day three, the FIU swimming and diving team has a first place lead of 74 points heading into the final day of the Conference USA Swimming and Diving Championships. The Panthers have 517 points through three days leading Western Kentucky (444) and Rice (412.5), who round out the top three.

"We needed to have a solid day today and that's exactly what we got," said Head Coach Randy Horner. "We are in a good spot to make a run at winning our first conference championship tomorrow."

Senior Johanna Gustafsdottir won her second C-USA title this week, improving her career-best time in the 400 IM by clocking in at 4:11.83, which is also a C-USA Championships record as well. Gustafsdottir now brings her conference championship first place medal count to 11 in her four-year career, which includes individual and relay titles. Freshman Silvia Scalia was FIU's other C-USA champion on the day, as she posted a school-record time of 52.58 in the 100 backstroke to pick up 20 points for FIU.  

Scalia kept rewriting the 100 backstroke record books, as she earned a mark of 52.97 in the preliminaries, which was then broken again in the finals, to improve her previous school record that she set at the Mizzou Invite. Freshman Jennifer Alfani improved her career-best mark by nearly two seconds, as she timed in at 53.96 in the prelims. Along with Scalia picking up the victory in the finals of the 100 back, junior Karin Tomeckova earned a spot on the podium, as she finished in third place with a career-best time of 53.34 seconds, which still stands in second behind Scalia in FIU's records. Alfani was also strong in the finals, picking up 14 points for the Panthers.

In addition to Gustafsdottir's career-best 400 IM time in the finals, junior Becky Wilde also chipped in for the Panthers, to earn points with a time of 4:23.89. Senior Jean Madison contributed as well, tallying a finals mark of 4:31.07 to put points on the board.

In the 100 butterfly preliminaries, junior Valerie Inghels touched the wall in 53.88 seconds, which broke the school record that was set by Marina Ribi at the 2013 Sun Belt Championships (54.78). Freshman Letizia Bertelli bested her previous career mark by earning a time of 54.39 seconds in the prelims, as she also passed Ribi and moved into the No. 2 spot temporarily in the Panther record books. Sophomore Jennifer Deist posted a time of 55.03 seconds in the preliminary round which also was a career-high for her and moved her into fourth all-time at FIU. The Panthers did not disappoint in the finals, as Inghels and Bertelli tied in the event to earn 13.5 points each. Bertelli improved her time from the prelims with a finals mark of 54.13. Deist also improved on her time as well, finishing at 54.06 seconds which then put her in second in the FIU record books.

Freshman Skye Carey posted a new career-high in the 200 freestyle preliminaries, earning a mark of 1:48.27, which did sit as the second-quickest time in school history. Freshman Brittany Fant improved her top time in the event as well, posting a time of 1:49.10 which then ranked fourth in the FIU annals. Freshman Kyna Pereira clocked in at 1:49.14, which sits sixth in the record books while freshman Paulina Zelazna temporarily slid into seventh all-time with a preliminary time of 1:50.85. In the finals of the 200 freestyle, FIU put together a strong effort, earning the four, six and nine placements which tallied them 37 points with those three spots. Carey improved her career-best time by .09 seconds in the final to change her No. 2 spot time in the record books. Fant also showed improvement, posting a time of 1:48.72. Zelazna bested her time as well from the prelims, clocking in at 1:49 flat as she slid in to the sixth fastest time ever at FIU. 

The Panthers strung together a very strong performance in the 100 breaststroke, grabbing three of the top seven spots and four of the top nine. In the preliminaries of the event, Madison put up a career-best time of 1:04.05 to move up to fifth in the school record books. Sophomore Jessica Chadwick came up big in the finals, breaking her old school record that she set at the 2013 Sun Belt Championships by touching the wall in 1:02.80. Andersson finished two spots behind Chadwick to earn 13 points for FIU, while Madison finished right behind Andersson for 12 points. Freshman Chase Harris earned a new personal best time in the B finals of 1:03.80 to pick up eight points and move into fourth place in FIU's all-time records.

The Panthers came up huge in the relay event. Scalia, Chadwick, Inghels and Gustafsdotitr clocked a 400 medley relay time of 3:38.04 to set the school record and earn a second place standing. The relay team picked up a big 34 points for the Panthers with the finish. 

Sophomore Lily Kaufmann once again led the diving corps in the one-meter diving on Thursday night, posting a finals score of 253.10 to earn an impressive second place finish. Freshman Natalia Coronado also gave the Panthers points, earning a mark of 214.00 in the event.

Prelim action for the final day on Saturday begins at 10:30 a.m.

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.

#####   

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/.