LYNCHBURG, Va. – At the end of the first day of competition at the 2021 CCSA Championship, the FGCU swimming & diving team's (2-2, 2-0 CCSA) 547.5 total points have earned the program a second-place ranking among the meet's eight-team standings. Just 15.5 points separate the Eagles from first-place Liberty, as the Flames have earned the advantage following the opening six events.
 
The first day of competition was highlighted by the Green & Blue's 200 Medley Relay entry, as well as senior Petra Halmai (Dombovar, Hungary/Lanczos Kornel Secondari Grammar School) and junior Wiktoria Czarnecka (Lublin, Poland/Liceum 10 NR W Lublinie), who captured individual wins in the 200 IM and the 50 Free.
 
"It's a tight team race, which we all knew and you always expect," head coach Dave Rollins said. "The team knows everything has to be earned and nothing will be given. It's been a few years since the team race was this close at this point in the meet. I'm really encouraged by how tough they are competing. Congratulations to our amazing divers on how well they did, Reese coming in second was great to see. Congratulations to Tori and Petra on their event wins. Michaela finishing second in the 500 was amazing and to have our 200 Medley Relay get back on top was fantastic, as well. We've got a lot of races to go and tomorrow is a new day."
 
FGCU kicked off the meet with a win in the 200 Medley Relay, thanks to the team of sophomore Claire McAtee (Louisville, Ky./Sacred Heart Academy), Halmai, sophomore Julia Rodriguez (Gainesville, Fla./Buccholz HS) and Czarnecka. The quartet's final time of 1:39.43 bested second-place UIW by nearly two full seconds.
 
On the boards, sophomore Reese Wakefield (Guelph, Ontario/Bishop Macdonelle CHS) continued the scoring with a second-place finish in the 3m event, turning in a final score of 278.75. Wakefield, sophomore Delaney Nelson (Cincinnati, Ohio/Ursuline Academy), redshirt-junior Megan Wakefield (Guelph, Ontario/Centennial CVI) and sophomore Isabeau Keene (Demorest, Ga./Tallulah Falls School) contributed a total of 112 points to the team's score. In order, the group finished second, fourth, sixth and eighth.
 
Sophomore Michaela Sizemore (Fredericksburg, Va./Stafford Senior HS) paced the team in the following event, the 500 Free, as her personal-best time of 4:55.46 earned her second overall. She was followed by sixth-place sophomore Hannah VanDress (Cape Coral, Fla./Bishop Verot) and ninth-place sophomore Sara Niepelova (Piestany, Slovakia/Gymnazium Pierra de Coubertina/ECU). In addition to the aforementioned trio, junior Alexis Durlacher's (Jacksonville, Fla./Florida Virtual School/Florida State) third-place finish in the 'B' Final contributed to the scoring, as well.
 
Following the 500 Free, Halmai became the team's first individual gold medalist of the day, touching the wall first in the 200 IM with a final time of 1:59.02. Her effort, which checks in as an NCAA 'B' Cut, earned her the win by almost three full seconds. Halmai was joined in the 'A' Final by sophomore Anna Hogan (Louisville, Ky./Dupont Manual School), who finished fourth overall. Freshman Rebecca Winn (Warwick, United Kingdom/The Kingsley School) also contributed a key 18 points in the event, as she finished third in the 'B' Final.
 
Monday night's final individual event saw Czarnecka grab the win, reclaiming her title in the 50 Free. The junior, who won the event at the 2020 CCSA Championship, laid down an NCAA 'B' Cut time of 22.64 to capture the crown. Both freshman Zuzanna Rabiniak (Radom, Poland/X Liceum Ogolnoksztalcace Mitsrzostwa Sportowego W Lublinie), sixth, and sophomore Kaja Reinhardt (Herdecke, Germany/Helene-Lange Gymnasium Dortmund), eighth, additionally placed in the 'A' Final. FGCU also earned points from McAtee, freshman Emma Hixenbaugh (Louisville, Ky./Ballard HS) and junior Meghan Schienvar (Holmdel, N.J./Holmdel HS), who finished 20th, 24th and 27th overall.
 
In the final event of the first day of competition, the Green & Blue's 800 Free Relay entry comprised of Rabiniak, Schienvar, junior Joely Merriman (Shawnee, Kan./Shawnee Mission North/Arizona State) and Reinhardt posted a time of 7:27.09, good for a second-place finish. The group contributed an additional 62 points to the team's total, boosting FGCU to its final score of 547.50.
 
The CCSA Championship will continue on Tuesday morning, beginning with a 10 a.m. prelim session. Tuesday's action will also include a 2 p.m. diving session and a 6 p.m. finals session. All three segments will be streamed on the Big South Network.
 
Standings, Day One
1. Liberty – 563
2. FGCU – 547.50
3. UIW – 431
4. UNC Asheville – 281
5. Campbell – 257
6. Georgia Southern – 237
7. Gardner-Webb – 233.5
8. Bellarmine - 122

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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 34-22-1 (.609) 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. 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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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.
 
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