FORT MYERS, Fla. – Making her Olympic debut, rising fifth-year senior Petra Halmai (Dombovar, Hungary/Lanczos Kornel Secondari Grammar School) helped the Hungarian swim team post a national record in the mixed 4x100 medley relay on Thursday morning at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. The Hungarian team swam in the first heat of the event which was televised at 7 AM ET in the United States and placed 15^th overall.
 
Halmai swam the breast on the second leg of the relay with a time of 1-minute, 8.11 seconds in the long course pool. That time would translated to 59.4 seconds on a short course. Her long course time was a season-best mark ahead of her 1:08.70 which she swam in May at the European National Championship. As a team, Hungary posted a time of 3-minutes, 47.15 seconds in the event.
 
"We are very proud of Petra; she's dreamed of this moment her entire life," said FGCU swimming and diving head coach Dave Rollins. "She has worked so hard every day and regardless of setbacks or delays, she never gave up. It is an incredible accomplishment for her, her family, our program, and our University. Congratulations Petra!"
 
Thursday's Olympic performance capped off a banner year for Halmai who helped the Eagles tie with San Diego State for 32nd at the 2021 NCAA Championship, the team's highest finish since 2015 (26th). The two-time reigning CCSA Swimmer of the Year placed 11th overall in the 200 breast with a school and conference-record time of 2:06.89. Overall, her swim was the ninth-fastest of the event as she out-paced a pair of swimmers in the A Final. Additionally, she was the Hungarian National Champion in the 100 breast and silver medalist in the 200 breast.

Halmai additionally swam the 100 breast (23rd, 59.76) and the 200 IM (47th, 1:59.59), out-performing her seed in both races. She was named an Honorable Mention All-American and became the third two-time All-American in program history, joining former Eagles Kira Toussaint (2014-15) and Emma Svensson (2014-15).

The fifth-year senior has been an Olympic hopeful since before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the games to be pushed back. Last season, she qualified for the 2020 NCAA Championship in the 200 breast and had the 10th-fastest time in the nation. She was named a CSCAA First-Team All-American for her efforts, just the second Eagle to achieve the feat in an individual event (Kira Toussaint, 100 Back, 2014).

The Hungarian was the sixth Eagle swimmer to compete at the Olympics, joining Eva Lehtonen (Finald, 2008 Summer Olympics), Danielle Beabrun (Saint Lucia, 2008 & 2012 Summer Olympics), Karen Vilorio (Honduras, 2012 Summer Olympics), Lani Cabrera (Barbados, 2016 Summer Olympics) and Evita Leter (Suriname, 2016 Summer Olympics). Overall, she is the ninth Olympian for FGCU including Brooke Youngquist Sweat (Beach Volleyball, USA, 2016 Summer Olympics) and Julia Roddar (Women's Soccer, Sweden, 2016 Summer Olympics). Roddar and Team Sweden are 3-0 in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and will play host nation Japan to open the quarterfinal stage on Friday, July 30.
 
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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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#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 85 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 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 23 consecutive semesters. The 2019 Fall, 2020 Spring, and 2020 Fall 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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