GREENSBORO, N.C. – Emma Svensson finished in 12th place to propel the FGCU swimming & diving team (10-2, 3-0 CCSA) during the opening day of the 2015 NCAA Championships on Thursday, Mar. 19, at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.

Svensson (Upsala, Sweden/Celsiusskolan) clocked a 22.14 in the 50-yard freestyle preliminary. The senior's time was good for 16th place and a spot in the finals for the second year in a row. In Thursday night's final, Svensson touched in 22.12 seconds to place 12th for the second-straight NCAA Championship which scored the Green and Blue 4.5 points.

The Upsala, Sweden native bested her time of 22.33 seconds from last year, which scored FGCU's first ever points in a NCAA Championship. As a freshman Svensson touched 38th in the event with a 22.66, before placing 31st with a 22.37 in 2013.

 "We had a really great first day," said head coach Neal Studd. "Emma [Svensson] was 12th in the 50 which was awesome scoring great points for us again and both relays were strong.  Very happy to be the best relay in the State and best relay in the country for mid-major schools in the 400 medley today.  Looking forward to our highest ranked relay tomorrow and highest ranked individual."

The Green and Blue's 400-yard medley relay team consisting of Katie Armitage (Bushey, United Kingdom/Queens School Bushey), Yee Wong (Hong Kong, China/Dlocesan Girls' School), Kira Toussaint (Amstelveen, Netherlands/Keizer Karel College) and Svensson narrowly missed the events final as they finished in a mid-major and Florida best 21st, place touching the pads in a time of 3:34.74.

The Eagles opened the day with the team of Svensson, Toussaint, Kristin Julien (San Fernand, Trinidad and Tobago/St. Stephen's College) and Rebecca Derogatis (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Indian River/Cardinal Gibbons HS) competing in the 200-yard freestyle relay. The team finished tied for 26th place with Louisiana State when they touched in a time of 1:30.09.

The Green and Blue will get back to action starting on Friday, Mar. 20, at 11 a.m. at the Greensboro Aquatic Center. FGCU will start day two at the NCAA Championships with the 200-yard medley relay team of Toussaint, Armitage, Svensson and Derogatis who qualified for the event when they set a CCSA, CCSA Championship meet and an FGCU program record with a time of 1:37.10.

Svennson then gets back in the pool for the 100-yard butterfly prelim before Armitage swims in her first individual event, the 100-yard breaststroke prelim, both qualified in times of 53.22 and 1:00.28, respectively. Toussaint then challenges the field during the 100-yard backstroke coming in as the ninth best swimmer to qualify with a time of 51.89.

ESPN3.com will stream finals sessions on Friday and Saturday live. Thursday's sessions, along with the morning sessions on Friday and Saturday, will be streamed live on www.NCAA.com. 

Additionally, ESPNU will air a two-hour broadcast via tape delay at 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday, March 31.  Live results for the championships will be available on www.NCAA.com.

FGCU rewrote the CCSA history books last month when it won its sixth conference championship in seven years. The Eagles' 1575 points were 688 more than the previous high in CCSA Championship history – 887 set by FGCU in 2009.

For complete coverage of FGCU women's swimming and diving at the 2015 NCAA Championships, 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 five CCSA Coach of the Year awards, won six CCSA Championships (2009-13, 2015) and guided the Eagles to a 28-1 CCSA all-time record since FGCU started its program in 2007. In just four years of postseason eligibility, Studd has coached NCAA Championship Meet qualifiers and competitors each of the four 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.
                                                                                                                                          
Team Rankings - Through Day One                     
 1. Georgia                        172  
2. California                       162
3. Stanford                        111  
4. Texas A&M                   82.5
5. Virginia                          76  
5. Louisville                        76
7. Wisconsin                      54  
8. Tennessee                     52
9. Southern California         46 
10. Arizona                        44
11. Texas                           42 
12. NC State                       41
13. Auburn                          32 
14. Missouri                        30
15. Florida                           27 
16. UNC                              24
16. Notre Dame                   24
18. Kentucky                      21
19. Penn State                   19 
19. Minnesota                     19
21. Purdue                         14 
22. Illinois State                 12
23. Florida State                11 
24. So. Methodist               8
25. Miami (Ohio)                 7 
25. Indiana                         7
27. Miami (Florida)              6 
28. FGCU                          4.5
29. Iowa                             4 
29. San Diego State            4
31. Hawaii (W)                    3 
31. Michigan                       3
33. Ohio State                     2