FGCU S&D: CCSA Championship Day Two Recap

The FGCU swimming and diving team surged into second place and now sit with 648 points at the conclusion of day two of the CCSA Championships being at the Liberty Natatorium.

"We had a great night!" head coach Dave Rollins said. "We started with the incredible news that our 800 free relay disqualification was overturned and that really brought momentum our way. Congrats to the 200 free relay team on the win and Megan for winning her second board, this time in a school record. We are racing tough and the energy has been incredible. They support each other so well."

With a seed time of 1:31.12, the Eagles came out and captured the first finals event of the evening, the 200 free relay. Seniors Gracie Redding and Hannah Burdge, freshman Wiktoria Czarnecka and sophomore Rebecca Moynihan combined to produce a swim of 1:30.02, etching a new season-best mark to give the Eagles a vital 70 points. Czarnecka and Moynihan registered lifetime best splits in the process.

On top of the 200 free relay win, FGCU learned that its second place 800 free relay time (7:20.78*) was reinstated, giving the Eagles another critical 62 points. The 800-free relay team consisted of seniors Linda Shaw, Antonia Baerens and Burdge and junior Elizabeth Zeiger.

A day after taking the 1-meter dive crown, sophomore Megan Wakefield repeated as champion, this time in the 3-meter dive. In her six dives, the Ontario native accumulated a total of 336.5 points – shattering her season-best mark of 293.65 – en route to a new school record.

Transitioning into the 500 free A Final, Shaw placed third with a time of 4:52.35* to score 30 points as Baerens registered 26 points with a swim of 4:58.78.

In the 200 IM C Final, junior Emily Glinecke captured first with a time of 2:07.01*. The Eagles made up more ground in the A Final as sophomore Petra Halmai (2:01.75), senior Christina Kaas Elmgreen (2:01.86*) and senior Doris Eichhorn (2:02.96*) finished 2-3-4, respectively. 

The 50 free was the final event of the night and it started with junior Cassidy Fry taking third in a C Final with a mark of 24:11*. In the A Final, Redding hit an NCAA 'B' cut time as she touched out in 22.65 for the first-place title along with 35 points.cCzarnecka finished right behind her with a time of 23.05*, collecting 30.5 points. Moynihan (23.13) and Burdge (23.55) rounded out the scoring finishing fifth and sixth, respectively.

"We, all the teams, are all in the same boat when it comes to the delays and timing malfunctions so we have to ignore those distractions and focus on our races," added Rollins. "We've had 21 season-best times and 16 lifetime best performances so far with two days still to go. There are a lot of races left and we have a huge day tomorrow."

Day three of the CCSA Championships will continue tomorrow with prelims beginning at 10 am with the final events commencing at 6 pm (100 fly, 400 IM, 200 free, 100 breast, 100 back and 400-medley relay).