ATLANTA, Ga. – The FGCU swimming and diving team (2-1, 1-0 CCSA) finished Day 1 of the Georgia Tech Invitational in fourth-place with 189 points. The day was highlighted by the Eagles' third-place finish in the 200 yard Free relay and by Emma Svensson's second place finish in the 50 yard Free.

The 11th-ranked Florida women's team leads the women's meet with 408 points, followed by Arkansas (253), Florida State (237), FGCU (189), FAU (124), Vanderbilt (110), Colorado State (102), Georgia Tech (91), Miami (91), Bowling Green (85), Indian River (67), South Carolina (59), Campbell (42) and Auburn (30).

"We had a great day," head coach Neal Studd said. "We had some fast swims and great relays. Emma qualified for NCAA fins so that's great to have that out of the way so early on in the season. We have all our girls back from international duty in Mexico now so we have a full team for tomorrow."

Nina Schiffer (Dortmund, Germany/SG Dortmund) and Devon Robins (Londong, United Kingdom/The Grey Coat Hospital) both qualified for the 500 yard final on Thursday morning with times of 4:53.98 and 4:59.36, respectively. Yee Wang (Hong Kong, China/Dlocesan Girls' School) posted a qualifying time of 2:04.24 in the 200 yard IM followed closely by Sammy Rahael (Trinidad & Tobago/The Bolles School) who finished just behind Wang with a 10th place qualifying time of 2:04.47. Karen Vilorio (Tegucigalpa/Honduras/Elvel School) also qualified for the final in the 200 IM with a touch time of 2:05.21 while Sara Hamilton (Stonehaven, Scotland/Mackie Academy) and Katie Armitage (Bushey, United Kingdom/Queens School Bushey) rounded out the quartet of qualifiers in that event. Emma Svensson (Uppsala, Sweden/Celsiusskolan) led all qualifiers in the 50 yard Free with a time of 22.21. Becky Derogatis (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Indian River/Cardinal Gibbons HS) and Kira Toussaint (Amstelveen, Netherlands/Keizer Karel College) also qualified with times of 23.09 and 23.12, respectively.

The team of Derogatis, Toussaint, Armitage and Svensson touched third in the 200 yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:30.89 which was over two full seconds faster than their qualifying time of 1:32.91. In the 400 yard Medley Relay final the Eagle team of Toussaint, Armitage, Wong and Svensson finished fourth with a time of 3:39.06.

Svensson's second place finish in the 50 Free final was the highlight of the afternoon for FGCU with Toussaint touching not far behind in ninth with a 23.07 mark. Rahael placed ninth in the 200 IM final with a touch time of 2:05.58 with Ching finishing just behind in 10th with a time of 2:06.05. Vilorio placed 19th in the B-Final of the 200 IM with a time of 2:05.70. In the final of the 500 Free, Schiffer and Robins finished 15th and 17th, respectively with times of 4:56.17 and 4:57.38.

The meet resumes tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. with finals once again taking place at 6 p.m.

NATIONALLY RANKED
The Eagles check in this week at No. 24 in the SwimSwam.com NCAA Women's Power Rankings which marks the third different FGCU program this fall to achieve a national ranking. Men's soccer reached as high as No. 24 in the NSCAA poll earlier this season while women's soccer garnered recognition as the No. 25 team in the nation by TopDrawerSoccer.com. Both men's and women's soccer advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

Leading the SwimSwam top 25 is Georgia, while Stanford, California, Texas A&M and Texas round out the top five. The Eagles ranked ahead of Kentucky and are chasing NC State, Florida State, Penn State and Notre Dame who rank 20-23, respectively.

The Green and Blue began the season with a third-place finish at the All Florida Invite, beating current No. 21 Florida State but finishing behind No. 6 Florida and No. 3 California. The Eagles 2-1 mark on the season is the result of wins over Incarnate Word and Miami and a loss to South Carolina.

RECEIVING VOTES
The second installment of the College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Division I Team Rankings lists the FGCU as receiving votes. This is the first time in program history the Eagles have been represented in the poll.

Leading the national top 25 is Georgia, while Texas, Stanford, California and Southern California round out the top five. The Eagles are listed as receiving votes alongside Missouri, South Carolina and Arkansas.

The CSCAA Division I Team Rankings are compiled by nine CSCAA-member coaches and one media member. The rankings will be released on a weekly basis throughout the 2014-15 season, alternating weeks between a men's and women's team ranking.

The CSCAA DI Poll Committee will produce in-season rankings of the 25 best performing NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving teams in rank order at the time of each poll. The poll is not designed to predict the results of the NCAA Championship, but rather which teams would win head-to-head against other teams in the country. Ranking are based on performances that have taken place since the previous poll and include invites as well as dual meets. The committee does not consider teams that have yet to post official times in the current college season.

CONFERENCE HONOR QUEENS
The Eagles have earned five CCSA weekly honors, with the most recent being Toussaint's naming as Swimmer of the Week and Cayla Collins (Largo, Fla./Osceola HS) earning the Diver of the Week title a couple weeks ago to mark the Green and Blue's second sweep of the season. FGCU swept the first wave of CCSA weekly honors on Oct. 7 with Svensson named Swimmer of the Week and Collins Diver of the Week following their success at the season-opening All Florida Invite. Svensson continued on to earn another Swimmer of the Week title on Oct. 21 after three first-place touches in FGCU's 175-120 defeat of Incarnate Word.

Up next the Eagles will return home for a dual meet opposite North Florida on Dec. 16 at 10 a.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.