FGCU Swimming and Diving: TDC Preview

To start the new year, the FGCU swimming and diving team host the inaugural FGCU Triple Distance Classic. The Eagles welcome CCSA conference rival Liberty, St. Louis University, Rutgers University and NCAA DIII Gustavus Adolphus College.

Last Time Out:
The Eagles (4-2, 2-0 CCSA) recently competed at home against Toledo University where they were victorious with a score of 182-60. In all 13 events, FGCU took first place in every one of them, including the diving portions.

FGCU Impactful Swimmers and Divers:
Six of the swimmers competed in four of the events. From the swimming side, junior Linda Shaw leads the way in freestyle. The Leeds, England native finished first in both the 1,000 yard (10:34.28) and 500 yard Free (5:03.44).

Sophomore Liz Zeiger, who was named CCSA Swimmer of the Week, swam a season-best time of 4:23.74 in the 400 yard individual medley.

Freshman Petra Halmai competed and finished first in three of her four events (1st: 200 yard medley relay, 100 yard backstroke, 100 yard breaststroke, 2nd: 400 yard individual medley).

On the diving, freshman Melissa Novak finished first in the one-meter and three-meter dive against Toledo. The Frederick, Maryland native scored a 245.25 in the one-meter dive and a 274.124 in the three-meter dive.

Scouting the Flames:
The Flames (6-2) recently competed in the Central Virginia Duals where they defeated conference member Campbell as well as NCAA Division III schools Ferrum, Hampden-Sydney, Roanoke and Sweet Briar.

From the swimming portion, Junior Alicia Finnigan finished 2nd in the 400 yard team relay (3:53.37), 1st in the 200 fly, 500 free and 1000 free and 3rd in the 100 fly (56.43).

Senior Chelsea Pond finished 2nd (1:55.46) in the 200 yard free and in the 400 free relay, but took 1st in the 100 free (51.41).

On the diving portion, junior Amy Schools won the one-meter dive with a score of 216.15.

Series History:
Overall, FGCU is 6-0 against Liberty. Last meet was on Janaury 7, 2017 where the Eagles won with a close score of 137-125.

Scouting the Billikens:
This is the first time both teams will meet, although it is unclear if the men's team will compete.

The Billikens (10-3) recently competed in the Indiana State University Relay Meet where they defeated host Indiana State, Eastern Illinois and Maryville.

On the swimming portion, the Billikens won three events in the meet: 300 fly relay, 800 free relay and the 500 free relay.

On the diving portion, the duo of senior Kalley Schwab and freshman Kolbe Schendl won the one-meter and three-meter diving relay (one-meter: 409.65, three-meter: 405.08).

Scouting the Scarlet Knights:
Rutgers (5-4) recently competed in the Big Al Open hosted by Princeton University and the Texas Invitational hosted by Texas.

Sophomore Alexandra Fabugais-Inaba swam to a 12th place finish in the 800-yard freestyle relay at the Texas Invitational.

Sophomore Francesca Bertotto won the 1,650-yard freestyle in the Big Al Open and took fifth place in the 200-yard freestyle at the Texas Invitational.

Junior Vera Koprivova swam in the A Final of the 200-yard backstroke and placed sixth overall in the pool of 48 with an NCAA B standard of 1:55.48.

On the diving portion, senior Addison Walkowiak set a new school and DeNunzio Pool standard on the 1-meter springboard, followed up with a victory in 3-meter diving at Princeton with a score of 286.45 in the finals at the Big Al Open.

Series History:
This will be the second time FGCU and Rutgers meet this season. FGCU defeated Rutgers earlier on October 7, 2017 in a two-day series by a final score of 199-16 at FGCU. The Eagles got first place in six out of nine events on day one and six out of eight on day two.

Scouting the Golden Gusties:
Like St. Louis, this will be the first time FGCU faces Gustavas Adolphus College (GAC). GAC is a NCAA DIII school, representing the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC). It is unsure if they are bringing their men's team as well. This will not count for their record as it is a scrimmage since they are an NCAA DIII school.

The Golden Gusties (7-1) recently competed in the Grinnell Invite hosted by Grinnell College. The Gusties would take first place out of 11 teams.

Senior Kate Reilly competed in the 200 yard medley relay where her team took first place. Reilly also won in the 100 yard butterfly, 100 breaststroke, 100 yard IM, 100 freestyle and the 400 yard freestyle relay.


Freshman diver Sophia Steinberg took second place at the Grinnell Invite in the one-meter dive with a score of 389.

GAC will be departing for a training trip in Puerto Rico before the classic.

The following events are as listed for the meet:
200 Medley Relay
1000 Freestyle
200 Butterfly
200 Backstroke
200 Breaststroke
200 Free
400 IM
3M Diving
500 Free
100 Fly
100 Back
100 Breast
100 Free
200 IM
1M Diving
200 Free
50 Fly
50 Back
50 Breast
50 Free
100 IM
200 Free Relay

There will be 22 events taking place in the tournament with breaks in between.

The FGCU Triple Distance Classic will start at 5 PM on Friday January 5, 2018.