FORT MYERS, Fla./ATLANTA, Ga. – The FGCU swim and dive team wrapped up the week and the 2021 calendar year with a resounding Eagle Invitational win. The Green and Blue scored 1337.50 points, over 400 points ahead of second-place Georgia Southern and third-place North Florida. Petra Halmai and Wiktoria Czarnecka also concluded their weeks at the Georgia Tech Invite with strong performances.

"The ladies did a great job stepping up and competing this evening and weekend," said head coach Dave Rollins. "On the boards, and in the pool, we are in a great spot headed into the second half of the season. Tori and Petra continued to impress up In Georgia, as well and congratulations to Petra on posting a time that will qualify her for her 3rd NCAA championships."

The evening got started with the 1650 freestyle which saw junior Sara Niepelova (Piestany, Slovakia/Gymnazium Pierra de Coubertina/ECU) finishing second with a time of 17:23.24 while junior Michaela Sizemore (Fredericksburg, Va./Stafford Senior HS) touched third at 17:25.43.

Junior Emma Hixenbaugh (Louisville, Ky./Ballard HS) touched first in the 200 back with a time of 2:01.22, while sophomore Julia Rodriguez (Gainesville, Fla./Buccholz HS) finished third with a time of 2:05.09.

In the 100 freestyle, the Eagles swept the top three spots as junior Hailey Jerew (Miami, Fla./Cutler Bay Senior HS), senior Brittney Pike (Boerne, Texas/Boerne Samuel V. Champion/Arkansas), and sophomore Zuzanna Rabiniak (Radom, Poland/X Liceum Ogolnoksztalcace Mitsrzostwa Sportowego W Lublinie) went 1-2-3 at the wall. Jerew touched first with a time of 50.82 followed by Pike at 50.96 and finally by Rabiniak, who swam 51.93.

In the 200 breast, Anna Hogan (Louisville, Ky./duPont Manual HS) finished second with a time of 2:19.21 while Emily Merton (Jacksonville, Fla./Robert E. Lee HS) was third at 2:21.50.

Rodriguez followed her third-place finish from earlier in the night with a second-place finish in the 200 fly with a time of 2:05.43.

Over in the diving pool, the Eagles swept the 3-meter as junior Reese Wakefield (Guelph, Ontario, Canada/Bishop Macdonnelle CHS) finished atop the leaderboard with 282.45 points. Junior Delaney Nelson (Cincinnati, Ohio/Ursuline Academy) and senior Megan Wakefield (Guelph, Ontario, Canada/Centennial CVI) came in second and third with 255.00 points and 253.20 points, respectively.

The Eagles ended the night by going 1-2 in the 400 free relay, led by the quartet of Pike, Hixenbaugh, Rabiniak, and Jerew, who swam 3:26.34.

At the Georgia Tech Invite, seniors Petra Halmai (Dombovar, Hungary/Lanczos Kornel Secondari Grammar School) and Wiktoria Czarnecka (Lublin, Poland/Liceum NR 10 W Lublinie) wrapped up a strong three days going up against swimmers from the SEC and the ACC.

Halmai finished her week with a fourth-place finish in the 200 breast with a time of 2:09.78, which clinches her spot at the NCAA Championships as she had a faster time than what qualified for NCAAs last season.

Czarnecka wrapped up her week with an 11^th-place finish in the 100 free with a time of 49.58.

The Eagles will return to pool in 2022 when they host Miami on January 12 at 2 p.m.

For complete coverage of FGCU swimming & diving, follow the Eagles on Twitter (@FGCU_WSwimDive), Instagram (@FGCU_WSwimDive) and online at www.FGCUAthletics.com. You can also sign up to have news on FGCU swimming & diving or other programs delivered directly to your inbox by visiting www.fgcuathletics.com/email.
 
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 34-23-1 (.595) dual meet record, which includes a 13-2 (.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 before winning the 10th championship in program history in 2021. 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.
 
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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!
 
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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 85 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 14+ seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just nine seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 42 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. Eight FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport - including women's basketball (No. 21, 2020-21), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2021) 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 in their sport. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.50 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2020 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 24 consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall, 2020 Spring, 2020 Fall, and 2021 Spring semesters each saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher team GPA in each. 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.