FORT MYERS, Fla. – Finishing first in 10 of 16 events, the FGCU swimming and diving team claimed its tenth all-time win over the University of Miami with a convincing 195-104 victory Saturday afternoon at the Lee County/FGCU Aquatic Center.
The triumph improves the Eagles to 2-0 on the young season and gives them a 5-3 advantage in the all-time series of head-to head competition against Miami. In their past 11 meetings with the Hurricanes, four being dual meets and seven others being invitationals, FGCU has totaled a combined 1,741 more points than Miami to claim 10 wins in just four seasons.
"We had a good day with a big win in front of our home crowd over a very good and improving Miami team," head coach
Neal Studd said. "I'm excited about how the girls raced today and am looking forward to going to South Carolina next weekend to face our second SEC opponent of the season."
The 10 first-place finishes registered by the Green and Blue came from the efforts of four different Eagles. Leading the group was sophomore
Kira Toussaint (Amstelveen, Netherlands/Keizer Karel College), who swam backstroke for the winning 200-yard medley relay team, finished first individually in both the 100 and 200-yard backstroke and capped the afternoon as anchor in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a winning touch. Joining Toussaint with pairs of first-place results in individual events were
Emma Svensson (Uppsala, Sweden/Celsiusskolan),
Katie Armitage (Bushey, United Kingdom/Queens School Bushey) and
Yee Wong (Hong Kong, China/Dlocesan Girls' School) as FGCU earned seven 1-2 finishes in Saturday's contest.
Twenty-eight of the home team's points came from relays, as the Eagles swept the 200-yard medley and the 400-yard freestyle. Starting FGCU down its path to victory was the team of Toussaint,
Evita Leter (Paramaribo, Suriname/Doral Academy), Svensson and
Rebecca Derogatis (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./ Cardinal Gibbons HS/Indian River) winning the 200 medley with a 1:42.09, before Leter, Armitage,
Lani Cabrera (Barbados/St. Ursala's Secondary School) and Toussaint ended the afternoon with a 3:30.17 to win the 400 free.
Toussaint turned in a couple of dominant performances racing her signature stroke, recording season lows in the 100 back (53.64) and 200 back (1:59.70) to surpass the 54.43 and 2:00.07 she clocked at the All Florida Invitational, which ranked 11th and 33rd in the nation, respectively.
Svensson continued to shine in freestyle winning the 50-yard race with a 23.17 and the 100-yard event with a 51.08. The team co-captain brought in four more points for the Green and Blue with a second-place finish in the 100 butterfly with a 57.01.
Freshmen Armitage and Wong had impressive showings with Armitage winning both breaststroke races after recording a 1:04.35 in the 100 and a season-low 2:19.60 in the 200 event. Wong's pair of wins were the result of clocking a 2:04.79 in the 200 butterfly and a season-low 2:06.76 in the 200 IM.
Leading the Green and Blue in the diving well for the third time this season was senior
Cayla Collins (Largo, Fla./Osceola High School) placing second on both boards with a 267.32 in the 1-meter event and a 256.50 on 3-meter.
Up next the Eagles will travel to Columbia, S.C. to face the University of South Carolina Gamecocks in a dual meet Friday, Oct. 31 at 5 p.m.
For complete coverage of FGCU women's swimming and diving, follow us on Twitter @FGCU_WSWIM and visit www.FGCUAthletics.com where full recaps and results will be available at the end of the meet. FGCU is led by Neal Studd, who has garnered four CCSA Coach of the Year awards, won five CCSA Championships (2009-13) and guided the Eagles to a 25-1 CCSA all-time record since FGCU started its program in 2007. In just three years of postseason eligibility, Studd has coached NCAA Championship Meet qualifiers and competitors each of the three years, with 2014 yielding the best results to date as the Eagles claimed 32nd place and produced two CSCAA All-America honorees.
FGCU Athletics sponsors events throughout the year to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.
