FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU swimming & diving team (5-1, 4-0 CCSA) dropped its first dual match of the season to Houston (4-0, 2-0 American) by a score of 204-142 Saturday afternoon at the FGCU Aquatics Complex. Over the span of the two-day meet, the Eagles picked up four first-place finishes and earned spots on the podium in all but two events.

"First of all, hats off to Houston," head coach Dave Rollins said. "They are a well-coached program and it's great for us to compete with them. We showed our youth this weekend, making small mistakes. We definitely have areas in which we can improve, but overall I am very encouraged with how we performed over the two days."

The quartet of freshman Lucija Sulenta, junior Petra Halmai, senior Cassidy Fry and sophomore Wiktoria Czarnecka was the first to bring home points for the Eagles in day 2 of the meet against Houston, notching a second-place finish in the 400-yard medley relay.

In the following event, the 500 Free, freshman Kaja Reinhardt swam a personal best (5:01.11) en route to posting a third-place finish. Classmate Hannah VanDress (Cape Coral, Fla./Bishop Verot HS) also tacked on points in the event and recorded a season-best time of 5:05.83.

Halmai (Dombovar, Hungary/Lanczos Komel Secondari Grammar School), senior Elizabeth White (Fort Myers, Fla./Riverdale HS) and freshman Anna Hogan picked up important points for the Eagles in the 200 Breast, taking home spots two through four in the event. Fry (Oakwood, Ohio/Oakwood HS), Czarnecka (Lublin, Poland/Liceum nr 10 w Lublinie) and freshman Julia Rodriguez (Gainesville, Fla./Buchholz HS) followed up with the same order of finishes in the 100 Fly.

Freshman Reese Wakefield, who won the 3M dive during yesterday's competition, tallied 270.08 points on the 1M board to finish second in the event. Wakefield (Guelph, Ontario, Canada/Bishop Macdonelle CHS), who is in her first collegiate season, has yet to finish lower than second place and has already qualified for NCAA Zones in both the 1M and 3M events.

In the final individual race of the day, Halmai, senior Liz Zeiger and Hogan (Louisville, Ky./DuPont Manual HS) combined for nine points in the 200 IM. Zeiger (Cumberland, R.I./Homeschool) was just 0.07 seconds off a personal best in the event.

Czarnecka, freshman Hailey Jerew (Miami, Fla./Cutler Bay Senior HS), Sulenta (Zagreb, Croatia/Gimnazija I ekonomska skola Benedikta Kotruljevica) and Reinhardt (Herdecke, Germany/Helene-Lange-Gymnasium Dortmund) earned the Eagles' final points of the day, as the group posted a second-place finish in a tightly-contested 200-yard freestyle relay. The Green and Blue quartet edged a Houston entry by just 0.09 seconds to earn the final four points for FGCU.

Up Next
The Eagles will hit the road for a pair of meets in Ohio and Michigan. On Friday, Nov. 8, FGCU will swim against Marshall and host Toledo in a 6 p.m. meet that will be streamed on ESPN +. The following day, the Green and Blue will head to Ypsilanti, Mich. to compete against Oakland and host Eastern Michigan in a 1 p.m. meet.

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
Head coach Dave Rollins is only the second coach in program history. He was hired Sept. 1, 2016 and owns a 30-14 (.681) dual meet record, which includes an 11-1 (.916) mark against CCSA opponents, in his fourth season. Rollins guided FGCU to back-to-back CCSA titles (2017, 2018), as well as the program's fourth-straight title in 2018, marking the ninth championship in 10 years. In addition, he has been awarded CCSA Coach of the Year in two of his 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 helping to develop Olympians, NCAA Champions and All-Americans, along with multiple conference champions. A native of Brockton, Mass., he was a standout collegiate swimmer in his own right and 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.

#FEEDFGCU
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.

ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 79 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 12 seasons at the Division-I level. Additionally, in just eight seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 36 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Seven FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport – including both men's and women's soccer again in 2018. In 2016-17, the Green and Blue posted a department-best 6th-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors' Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA's Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate in their sport. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.35 GPA in the classroom in the spring 2018 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for twenty consecutive semesters. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 – being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.

--FGCUATHLETICS.COM--