FORT MYERS, Fla. – For the final time this season, the FGCU swimming & diving team (1-2, 1-0 CCSA) is preparing to compete at The Nest. The Eagles will host conference foe UNF (0-3, 0-2 CCSA) this Saturday, Jan. 30 at 11 a.m., a change from the two-day competition that was originally scheduled. The event, which will be streamed on Facebook Live, will be open to 50 spectators. All attendees are required to wear masks at all times and must adhere to CDC guidelines, which include social distancing.
Prior to the start of Saturday's events, head coach
Dave Rollins and the rest of his team will hold a senior day ceremony for
Petra Halmai (Dombovar, Hungary/Lanczos Kornel Secondari Grammar School). Though the COVID-19 pandemic has granted her an additional year of eligibility, she is an academic senior and has been on the team for four years.
The Eagles are coming off a loss to FIU, despite improving upon their performance from last season's meet against the Panthers. Halmai led the team with three individual wins, as she took home both breaststroke events and the 200 IM. Sophomore
Hannah VanDress (Cape Coral, Fla./Bishop Verot) accounted for the team's fourth event victory of the day, claiming the 1000 Free with a season-best time.
With the result, the Panthers were able to avenge their loss to FGCU from earlier in the season. Upon completion of the three-day FGCU Invitational, which was held in Nov. 2020, the Eagles' 1,420 team points bested both second-place FIU (994) and third-place Georgia Southern (712).
Like FIU, UNF is also a program that the Eagles take on twice during their 2020-21 slate. FGCU made the trip up to Jacksonville earlier this month to face off against the Ospreys in their home pool, claiming a 201-61 victory. The Green & Blue won each of that meet's 14 events and earned the sweep in four.
Before heading down to Fort Myers, the Ospreys will take on both Florida State and Tampa in Tallahassee on Wednesday afternoon. The team will look for its first dual win of the season, having dropped results to FGCU, No. 7 Florida and Georgia Southern.
Following this weekend's dual, the Eagles will begin to prepare for the 2021 CCSA Conference Championships. The meet, which will take place from Feb. 15-17 at the Liberty Natatorium in Lynchburg, Va., will have FGCU's 10th conference title on the line.
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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 33-22-1 (.609) dual meet record, which includes an 12-2 (.857) 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.
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--
