MIAMI, Fla. – The FGCU swim and dive team competed at FIU, Saturday, in Miami, falling to the Panthers, 190-109.

"We came into today with two goals, executing our events better than we did last week and exchanges on relays, and we did a great job on both," said head coach Dave Rollins. "Congratulations to Reese [Wakefield] who qualified for NCAA Zones on both the 1m and 3m. Emma [Hixenbaugh] coming away with an event win is always special and seeing our team challenge themselves to finish their races is huge for us moving forward. Now we get to focus on celebrating our seniors and all of their accomplishments and contributions to this program as we head into the final push of the season."

Sophomore Emma Hixenbaugh (Louisville, Ky./Ballard HS) picked up the lone win for the Eagles on the day as she touched first in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:08.30.

The other big highlight of the day was at the diving pool as junior Reese Wakefield (Guelph, Ontario, Canada/Bishop Macdonelle CHS) qualified for NCAA Zones on both the 1m and 3m. On the 1m, she scored 291.00 while on the 3m, she put up a score of 294.68, both well above the NCAA qualifying threshold. She becomes the fourth Eagle to qualify for zones, joining her sister Megan Wakefield (Guelph, Ontario, Canada/Centennial CVI), and juniors Isabeau Keene (Demorest, Ga./Tallulah Falls HS) and Delaney Nelson (Cinicinnati, Ohio/Ursuline Academy).

The Eagles had a couple of second-place finishes in the pool as senior Wiktoria Czarnecka ( (Lublin, Poland/Liceum NR 10 W Lublinie) touched second in the 50 free as did senior Petra Halmai (Dombovar, Hungary/Lanczos Kornel Secondari Grammar School) in the 200 breast and the 200 IM.

FGCU will return to action on February 4-5 when they welcome North Florida for a two-day meet. Friday, the fourth will be Senior Day for the Eagles as the program will honor seven seniors before the meet.

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 34-26-1 (.566) dual meet record, which includes a 13-2 (.857) mark against CCSA opponents, in his sixth 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!
 
#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 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.