ATLANTA – The FGCU swimming and diving team continued to make strides in the pool Friday as they wrapped up day two of the Georgia Tech Invite at the McAuley Aquatic Center.

"Huge day for us today!" said head coach Dave Rollins. "Our relays got the energy flowing from the start and they never backed down."

It was a fast start for the Eagles in the first finals event of the evening, the 200 medley relays. Coming in with a time of 1:39.88, the team of Doris Eichhorn (Berlin, Germany/HTW Berlin), Petra Halmai (Dombovar, Hungary/Lanczos Kornel Secondari Grammar School), Gracie Redding (Orlando, Fla./The First Academy/FSU) and Rebecca Moynihan (Palmerston North, New Zealand/Waiopehu College) set a new season-best time and also the fastest mark by a CCSA school this year.

Christina Kaas Elmgreen (Charlottenlund, Denmark/Ordrup Gymnasium) achieved an NCAA 'B' time in the 100 fly A final with a swim of 53.60 for 6th place. Elmgreen was the first A finalist for the Eagles this weekend. Meanwhile, Redding also captured an NCAA 'B' mark in the B final, finishing 15th (54.21) as Cassidy Fry (Oakwood, Ohio/Oakwood HS) claimed 17th (54.70). Wiktoria Czarnecka (Lublin, Poland./Liceum nr 10 w Lublinie) etched the 9th fastest time in school history in the prelims with a swim of 54.70 as she would place 23rd (54.88) in the C final in the evening portion. Lindsay Manganiello (Miami, Fla./Coral Reef Senior HS) (100 back, 58.94) and Karin Schienvar (Holmdel, N.J./Holmdel HS) (100 fly, 56.09) went on to record personal-best times.

In the 200 free, senior Linda Shaw (Leeds, United Kingdom/Roundhay HS) improved her prelim time by more than 1.2 seconds to place 23rd in the C final as Halmai made progress too, claiming 15th overall in the 100 breast (1:02.11).  Going into the 100 back, Eichhorn kicked to a swim of 54.50 to finish 13th in the B final as the 800 free relay team capped off the day registering a new low mark in the CCSA. Antonia Baerens, (Ottobrunn, Germany/Max-Josef-Stift Gymnasium/Nevada), Hannah Burdge (Stuart, Fla./Martin County HS), Fry and Shaw touched out in 7:24.16 for 8th overall, collecting 32 points for the Green and Blue.

"For us to have people producing lifetime best times at this point of the season is incredible," added Rollins. "Having Tina (Elmgreen) and Gracie achieve NCAA 'B' cuts is fantastic and for us to have relays close to what we did at the end of the season last year shows great growth for our program. We have one more day that is loaded with great events for us."

FGCU remained ninth in the team standings, collecting 115 points on day two.

Team Standings
1. #10 Florida- 854.5
2. #12 Auburn- 602.5
3. Alabama- 446.5
4. #22 FSU- 418.5
5. #19 UNC- 396.5
6. South Carolina- 391.5
7. Virginia Tech- 375
8. Georgia Tech- 278
9. FGCU- 208
10. ECU- 127

Saturday, Nov. 17 – Prelims ESPN | Finals ESPN | Live Results
(In order of event, prelims start each day at 10 a.m. ET, finals begin at 5:30 p.m. ET)
1650 free
200 back
100 free
200 breast
200 fly
Platform diving
400 free relay

FOLLOW ALONG
For up-to-date 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.

HEAD COACH DAVE ROLLINS
Entering into his third season, head coach, Dave Rollins is only the second head coach in program history, taking over on Sept. 1, 2016. In his second season, Rollins guided FGCU to back-to-back CCSA titles, as well as the program's fourth-straight and ninth championship in 10 years. In addition, he has been awarded CCSA Coach of the Year in each of his two seasons at the helm. Previously, Rollins was the associate head men's swimming coach at The Ohio State University. Rollins brings over a decade of coaching experience to The Nest, which includes Olympians, NCAA Champions and All-Americans along with multiple conference champions. A standout collegiate athlete in his own right, Rollins was inducted into the University of Arizona's Hall of Fame in 2017 as a nine-time NCAA All-American, national champion, school record holder and team captain.

SUPPORT THE CAUSE
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.