The FGCU swimming & diving team (5-3, 4-0 CCSA) fell to Oakland (7-1, 2-0 Horizon) and host Eastern Michigan (3-1, 2-0 MAC) at the end of its Midwestern road trip Saturday afternoon. This was the second meet in as many days for the Eagles, who took part in the big Oakland-EMU rivalry meet. Despite the slight skid, FGCU is still ranked 40th overall and fifth among mid-majors by CollegeSwimming.com.
"We learned a lot as a team the past two days," head coach Dave Rollins said. "With a young team, we needed to experience flying, competing in back-to-back days and learn how to take care of ourselves. The team is in great spirits and ready to take on the next phase of the season."
Junior Petra Halmai, who has posted multiple nationally-ranked times this season, secured the Eagles' first points of the meet in the 100 Breast. She was edged by Oakland's Sydney McDowell by about half a second, but held off third-place Elli Machado of EMU by .19 seconds.
Sophomore Wiktoria Czarnecka followed up two events later with a third-place finish in the 50 Free. She was closely tailed by freshman Hailey Jerew, as the duo combined for a total of five points for the Eagles.
On the 3m board, freshman Reese Wakefield (Guelph, Ontario, Canada/Bishop Macdonelle CHS) continued to flex the dominance she has shown through the start of her rookie campaign by taking home first place by almost a full, 20-point margin. Classmate Delaney Nelson (Cincinnati, Ohio/Ursuline Academy) also tallied points in the event by finishing fourth.
Czarnecka (Lublin, Poland/Liceum nr 10 w Lublinie) added more points for FGCU through the middle of the meet, contributing a third-place finish in the 100 Free. She and EMU's Amelia Grant-Armstrong tied for third place while Oakland took the top two spots. Halmai (Dombovar, Hungary/Lanczos Komel Secondari Grammar School) also garnered points in the middle of the meet, touching the wall third in the 200 Breast.
Senior Cassidy Fry was the last to earn a podium finish for the Eagles, as she took home second place in the 100 Fly. Fry's (Oakwood, Ohio/Oakwood HS) race was tightly contested, as the top three finishes were all posted within a half second of one another.
In the final event of the meet, FGCU posted a fourth-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The quartet of Czarnecka, freshman Lucija Sulenta (Zagreb, Croatia/Gimnazija I ekonomska skola Benedikta Kotruljevica), Jerew (Miami, Fla./Cutler Bay Senior HS) and Fry pulled away from an Eastern Michigan entry and secured a two-second margin over the fifth-place opponent.
Though the team is on its way back to Fort Myers, the Eagles are still awaiting official results from Friday night's meet against Marshall and host Toledo. The scoring from the meet is under review and, therefore, results have yet to be announced.
Up Next
FGCU will continue its road swing by heading to Houston for the Cougars' Phil Hansel Invitational. The Invite will take course from Nov. 20-23 at the CRWC Natatorium and will be the final competition of 2019 for the Eagles.
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