FORT MYERS, Fla. – The FGCU swimming & diving team (0-1, 0-0 CCSA) dropped a 171-129 decision to Miami (2-1, 0-0 ACC) on Wednesday afternoon at the FGCU Aquatics Center. The Eagles were short a few members during their first dual meet of the 2020-21 season due to a delay in the return of their asymptomatic surveillance tests, which is part of the COVID protocol for competition.
"I am really happy with how well the athletes who had the opportunity to compete raced and dove," head coach
Dave Rollins said. "My heart breaks for our student-athletes who were unable to compete today. It will be great to have everyone against UNF in a couple of days. Today, I was impressed with our ability to refocus, adjust to event changes and our overall competitive drive. Our attention to details and race strategy were on point. We will regroup, get back into training and be ready for the next opportunity."
Senior
Petra Halmai (Dombovar, Hungary/Lanczos Kornel Secondari Grammar School) led the Eagles with three first-place finishes, as she took home the 100 Breast, the 200 Breast and the 200 IM. Junior
Wiktoria Czarnecka (Lublin, Poland/Liceum NR 10 W Lublinie) earned the team's other individual first-place finish when she took home the 50 Free for the second time this season.
FGCU opened up competition against the Hurricanes with a victory in the 200-yard medley relay. The quartet of junior
Joely Merriman (Shawnee, Kan./Shawnee Mission North/Arizona State), Halmai, Czarnecka and sophomore
Hailey Jerew (Miami, Fla./Cutler Bay Senior High) bested second-place Miami by over a full second.
The visiting team picked up wins in the next few events until Halmai snapped their scoring with her triumph in the 100 Breast. She, as well as the freshman duo of
Karen Arngeirsdottir (Reykjanesbaer, Iceland/Fjolbrautaskoli Sudurnesja) and
Zoe Gibson (Cannes, France/Lycee Jacques Audiberti) combined for 13 points in the event. Arngeirsdottir and Gibson turned in third- and fourth-place finishes, respectively.
Czarnecka added her win in the 50 Free shortly after and the junior was followed closely by second-place Jerew. Junior
Meghan Schienvar (Holmdel, N.J./Holmdel HS) also contributed points, as she finished fourth.
Sophomore
Reese Wakefield (Guelph, Ontario/Bishop Macdonelle CHS) paced the Eagles on the 3m board, where her score of 276.53 earned her second overall. She was joined in the scoring by classmates
Delaney Nelson (Cincinnati, Ohio/Ursuline Academy) and
Isabeau Keene (Demorest, Ga./Tallulah Falls School), who checked in at third and fourth.
The Green & Blue had an influx of points come in from the 200 Breast, where Halmai, sophomore
Anna Hogan (Louisville, Ky./Dupont Manual School) and freshman
Rebecca Winn (Warwick, United Kingdom/The Kingsley School) each scored. Halmai's effort brought in nine, while Hogan (third) and Winn (fourth) added a combined five.
FGCU earned back-to-back second-place finishes in the 500 Free and 100 Fly, courtesy of sophomore
Sara Niepelova (Piestany, Slovakia/Gymnazium Pierra de Coubertina/ECU) and Czarnecka. Niepelova's effort matched her standing in the 1000 Free, where she also took home second.
Halmai's third and final win of the meet came in the 200 IM, where she touched the wall with a time of 2:06.57. With the addition of Hogan's two points (fourth place), 11 total were added to the team's score.
The trio of Keene, Wakefield and Nelson picked up their second scoring finishes of the day on the 1m board, as they came in third, fourth and fifth, respectively. Keene paced the Eagles in the event with a final score of 259.35.
The last event of the meet was a tightly-contested race in the 400-yard freestyle relay, which ultimately saw Miami's 'A' team win. Czarnecka, Schienvar, sophomore
Kaja Reinhardt (Herdecke, Germany/Helene-Lange-Gymnasium Dortmund) and Jerew's time of 3:32.08 was less than half a second off of the winning pace.
FGCU will now hit the road and head to Jacksonville to take on CCSA conference foe UNF this Saturday, Jan. 16 at 1 p.m. It will be the 14th time that the teams have faced off during the regular season and FGCU comes into the meet with an unblemished, 13-0 mark against the Ospreys.
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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 32-21-1 (.615) dual meet record, which includes an 11-2 (.846) 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.
SUSTAINING FLIGHT
To help offset the financial impact of COVID-19, FGCU Athletics has launched the Sustaining Flight Fundraiser and Auction. The fundraising campaign will help mitigate operational revenue loss and the additional expenses incurred as a result of COVID-19 protocols. All funds raised during the campaign will go to support areas that directly impact student-athletes.
In lieu of hosting the annual Night at the Nest gala this year, one of FGCU's most successful fundraising events, the department will be hosting a virtual, online auction from Monday, Nov. 30 through Friday, Dec. 4. Fans and supporters will be able to bid on exclusive memorabilia, trip packages, unique event experiences and more. For more information, visit www.fgcuathletics.com/sustainingflight.
E.A.G.L.E. CAMPAIGN
IT TAKES A TEAM to achieve our newest goal - a $10 million campaign to address student-athlete needs in continued academic success, life skills, mental health, nutrition, and strength and conditioning as well as departmental needs in facility expansion and improvement as well as mentoring and leadership training for coaches and staff. The name embodies our mission and the purpose of the E.A.G.L.E. Campaign - Eagle Athletics Generating Lifetime Excellence. Join Our Team and pledge your gift today to help the Eagles of tomorrow!
#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April 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 82 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 13 seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just nine seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 38 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Seven FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport – including women's basketball (No. 24, 2019-20) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as three of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green and Blue posted a department-best sixth-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 (APR) in their sport and have had the highest percentage of teams so honored from these two groups over each of the past three years. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.46 GPA in the classroom in the spring 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 22 consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall and 2020 Spring semesters each saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher team GPA. 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--
