HOUSTON, Texas (Oct. 15, 2016) – Trailing by 19 points heading into the final two events, the FIU swimming and diving team out-scored Rice, 29-4, to earn a 104-98 victory over the Owls during Saturday's first session at Dual-A-Palooza at the Rice Competition Pool.
With the Owls holding a 94-75 lead after nine events, FIU collected 13 points in the 200 Free Relay. The team of
Jennifer Alfani,
Jennifer Deist,
Ally Mayhew and
Naomi Ruele took the top spot with a time of 1:34.78 to earn 11 points for FIU. The Panthers added two more points with a third-place finish by
Alexa Bryant,
Marie Lauridsen,
Megan Bowen and
Kyna Pereira with the third-best time of the day (1:36.64) to pull FIU within 10, 98-88.
For the second-straight day, the Panthers swept the diving program as
Brittany Haskell (250.15),
Brooke Bouchard (235.10) and
Rebecca Quesnel (233.45) took the top three spots in the 1-meter program. The 16 points pushed FIU past Rice for the six-point win.
FIU took an early lead in the 200 Medley Relay, 11-6. Alfani,
Taylor Grabenhorst,
Letizia Bertelli and Ruele placed first with a time of 1:43.82. The Panthers added 10 more points in the 500 Free to take a 21-5 advantage after two events. Pereira won the event, sporting the top time of 4:54.88.
Rice responded winning the next two events (200 Fly and 100 Free), taking a 42-32 lead. FIU out-scored Rice, 12-7 in the 200 Back as
Skye Carey (2:01.15) took the top spot and Tomeckova (2:04.45) placed third. The Owls extended their lead, 63-49, following the 100 Breast, but FIU took both the 50 Fly and the 200 Free to cut the Rice lead to 78-72. Bertelli placed first in the 50 Fly with a time of 25.27 while Pereira (1:51.02 – first), Carey (1:53.21 – third) and Bowen (1:54.14) each registered points in the 200 Free.
The Owls extended their lead to 19 points following the 400 IM before FIU won the dual, scoring 29 points in the final two events.
The Panthers will take on Denver at 4:00 p.m. to wrap up this year's Dual-A-Palooza.
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 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/.
