GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Following a steady, consistent performance throughout the night, the FGCU swimming and diving team remained in third place Saturday after day-two action at the three-day, ultra-competitive Pinch A Penny All-Florida Invitational at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
 
The Eagles capped the day with 472 points to remain positioned ahead of four teams, including Florida State (4th, 460 points) and Miami (5th, 270), as FGCU is behind only host Florida (720) and the University of California (590).
 
Kira Toussaint (Amstelveen, Netherlands/Keizer Karel College) helped lead the charge for FGCU as she finished third in the 100-yard backstroke and led off the fourth-place 200-yard medley relay team which kicked off the evening's events. In the backstroke, Toussaint finished with an NCAA 'B' cut as her 54.83 time was just 0.78 behind first-place finisher and four-time Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin, who swims for Cal. Toussaint's 50-yard split of 26.72 was actually ahead of Franklin's time (26.74).
 
The 'B' cut doesn't automatically qualify Toussaint for the NCAA Championship, but it does represent a finish below the championship average from last year. The medley relay team she served as the lead for touched in 1:41.69 as Toussaint teamed up with Katie Armitage (Bushey, United Kingdom/Queens School Bushey), Emma Svensson (Uppsala, Sweden./Celsiusskolan) and Rebecca Derogatis (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Indian River/Cardinal Gibbons HS) as the quartet earned the Eagles 30 points.
 
"Today was another great day for us," said head coach Neal Studd. "At one point we were ahead of Cal, which is amazing for our program. For us to still be leading Florida State after two days is also great, and we're going to fight hard to stay there in the final day tomorrow."
 
In addition to the aforementioned 200 medley team, the Eagles also had the seventh-place finishers as Sandra Wilk (Lexington, Ky./Paul Laurence Dunbar HS), Evita Leter (Paramaribo, Suriname/Doral Academy), Yee Ching Wong (Hong Kong, China/Dlocesan Girls' School) and Sara Hamilton (Stonehaven, Scotland/Mackie Academy) touched in 1:45.62 to garner 24 points.
 
Later in the night, Leter posted a third-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke, finishing in 1:04.33 and ahead of competitors from Cal and Miami. Her performance earned FGCU 16 points as two of her teammates, Armitage and Vanessa Rivas (White Rock, B.C./Earl Marriott Secondary School), finished behind her with times of 1:05.56 and 1:05.85, respectively. Rivas swam in 'B' Final and finished with the second-best time.
In the 400-yard IM, Nina Schiffer (Dortmund, Germany/SG Dortmund) finished fifth for the Green and Blue with a time of 4:28.72, while Karen Vilorio (Tegucigalpa, Honduras/Elvel School) was right behind her for a sixth-place finish and a time of 4:32.94. In the 'B' Final of the same event, Samantha Rahael (Trinidad &Tobago/The Bolles School) touched in 4:37.69.
 
Three Eagles competed in the 'B' Final of the 100-yard butterfly, with Svensson (55.99), Wong (57.74) and Christina Herfurth (Greenacres, Fla./John I. Leonard High School) (59.56) finishing second, third and eighth, respectively.
 
In the 200-yard freestyle, Toussaint touched in 1:54.60 to finish seventh in the 'A' Final, while Lani Cabrera (Barbados/St. Ursala's Secondary School) (1:55.32) and Wong (2:00.76) finished seventh and eighth, respectively, in the 'B' Final. Also in the 100 breast in which Toussaint finished third, Svensson (56.11) and Wilk (57.16) competed in the 'B' Final and wrapped up their event in third and fourth place, respectively.
 
In the final event of the evening for FGCU, Wong, Svensson, Cabrera and Toussaint teamed up to finish in sixth place with a time of 7:38.52 in the 800-yard freestyle relay to earn 26 points, while Schiffer, Wilk, Armitage and Devon Robins (London, United Kingdom/The Grey Coat Hospital) touched in 7:39.23 for eighth place and 22 points.
 
In diving action earlier in the day, Cayla Collins (Largo, Fla./Osceola High School) once again paced the Eagles as she scored a 241.66 on the 3-meter board to finish in fourth place and garner 15 points. Taylor Malewicki (Jacksonville, Fla./Bishop Kenny) posted a 233.86 for 14 points, Mikaila Buening (Franklin, Ind./Franklin Community HS) had a 228.53 for nine points and Emily Slater (Wildwood, Mo./Lafayette HS) closed with a 186.23 for seven points.
 
The seven-team invitational – which also includes the University of North Florida and Nova Southeastern University – features some of the best programs in the nation. The field is one of the most competitive the Green and Blue will see this season as five of the seven programs finished in the top 35 at the 2014 NCAA Championship, with Cal taking third, UF claiming sixth, Miami 21st, Florida State 30th and FGCU 32nd. The invite continues Sunday.
 
ALL-FLORIDA INVITE FIELD
1) Florida – 720
2) Cal – 590
3) FGCU – 472
4) Florida State – 460
5) Miami – 270
6) Nova Southeastern – 114
7) North Florida – 68
 
For complete coverage of FGCU women's swimming and diving over the weekend, follow on Twitter @FGCU_WSWIM and visit www.FGCUAthletics.com where full recaps and results will be available at the end of each day.
 
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.