CLEVELAND, Ohio (March 16, 2019) – After three days of competition at the CSCAA National Invitational Championship, the Panthers garnered 465 points and capped the meet in third place on Saturday night.

FIU missed out on repeating as champions at the event, with Akron taking the crown after earning 637.5 points. Click here for full day three results. 

"We had another great showing at finals tonight and I am proud of the team and the way they represented FIU on the national stage this week," Head Coach Randy Horner said.

Senior Oceane Peretti opened the evening finals competition with a trip to the podium, setting two meet records in both the 1000 and 1650 free.

In the 1650 freestyle, Peretti touched at 16:27.26 besting the previous record holder by three seconds. At the 1000-yard mark, Peretti tapped at 9:53.74 which also acts as a new mark for the event.

After Peretti's impressive performance, junior Carita Luukkanen went on to capture third in the 100 IM with a time of 56.44. Freshman Holly Shepherd secured ninth place in the 200 back when she clocked in at 1:59.45.

Luukkanen posted another top-three finish in the 200 breast. After battling wire-to-wire, she tapped at 2:12.79, just a second shy of a first-place finish.

The 400 free relay team of junior Megan Bowen, freshman Helga Fodor, sophomore Sara Gyertyanffy and sophomore Stephanie Hussey capped the championship with an eighth-place finish with a time of 3:23.34.

UP NEXT
As the Panthers wrap up postseason competition, freshman Maha Gouda and senior Naomi Ruele will represent FIU at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in Austin, Texas March 20-23.

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