COLUMBIA, Mo. (Nov. 18, 2018) – FIU swimming and diving completed the Missouri Invitational in fourth-place with a score of 510.
The Panthers maintained fourth-place and swept all three diving events of the competition.
"I feel very good about our team after this weekend. We competed with some great teams and didn't back down," said head coach
Randy Horner.
Freshman
Helga Fodor, redshirt senior
Naomi Ruele, junior
Alexa Bryant, and sophomore Sara Gytertynaffy opened day one with a fifth-place finish in the 200 Freestyle Relay (1:32.48). Followed by Ruele who finished sixth in the 50 Free with a time of 22.83.
The powerhouse team of Ruele, Junior
Carita Luukkanen, sophomore
Stephanie Hussey and Fodor placed in the top-five of the 400 Medley Relay with a time of 3:39.67.
Later on in the day, Sophomore
Rachel Foord dazzled from the 3-meter spring board. Achieving a personal best score of 324 and secured a victory for the Panthers.
On day two, the Panthers tallied a top-ten finish in the 200 Medley relay: Ruele, Luukkanen, Hussey and Fodor achieved a time of 1:42.67, tacking on 18 points for the Panthers. Hussey recorded a seventh-place finish in the 400 IM with a time of 4:22.00. Followed by a third-place finish from junior
Megan Bowen who posted a time of 1:48.69 in the 200 Free.
Luukkanen would then tack on another 13 points for the Panthers, with a finals time of 1:02.28 in the 100 Breaststroke. Ruele registered a seventh-place finish in the 100 Back with a finals time of 54.11. From the springboard, Foord and freshman
Maha Gouda took first and second-place respectively in the one-meter event.
The divers maintained their steady lead on day three, Gouda won the platform diving event with a score of 282.95 and freshman Kaitlyn Fredricks qualified for NCAA zones.
In the lanes, senior
Oceane Peretti finished seventh in the 1650 Free with a time of 16:43.99. Followed by Ruele who logged in seventh-place finish in the 100 Free with a finals time of 49.78. After Luukkanen picked up a sixth-place finish in the 200 Breast (2:13.67), Hussey checked in at fifth-place (2:00.82) and sophomore Camilie Wishaupt at seventh (2:03.58), in the 200 Fly. The team of Luukkanen, sophomore
Anna Topolanski, sophomore
Victoria Cantu Villauneva and junior
Taylor Grabenhorst garnered a fifth-place finish in the 400 Free Relay (3:22.42).
"I am most impressed by our divers performance this weekend. We swept all three diving events going up against teams from the SEC and Pac12 conferences. They were the rock of our team this week," said Horner.
Click
here for complete meet results and
here for team scores.
The Mizzou Invitational marks the final competition in 2018 for FIU. The Panthers are back in action at Biscayne Aquatic Center for a trio of home meets starting on January 5th, 2019.
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