FGCU S&D vs Houston Recap

 The FGCU swimming & diving team (5-1, 4-0 CCSA) dropped its first dual match of the season to Houston (4-0, 2-0 American) by a score of 204-142 Saturday afternoon at the FGCU Aquatics Complex. Over the span of the two-day meet, the Eagles picked up four first-place finishes and earned spots on the podium in all but two events.

"First of all, hats off to Houston," head coach Dave Rollins said. "They are a well-coached program and it's great for us to compete with them. We showed our youth this weekend, making small mistakes. We definitely have areas in which we can improve, but overall I am very encouraged with how we performed over the two days."

The quartet of freshman Lucija Sulenta, junior Petra Halmai, senior Cassidy Fry and sophomore Wiktoria Czarnecka was the first to bring home points for the Eagles in day 2 of the meet against Houston, notching a second-place finish in the 400-yard medley relay.

In the following event, the 500 Free, freshman Kaja Reinhardt swam a personal best (5:01.11) en route to posting a third-place finish. Classmate Hannah VanDress also tacked on points in the event and recorded a season-best time of 5:05.83.

Halmai, senior Elizabeth White and freshman Anna Hogan picked up important points for the Eagles in the 200 Breast, taking home spots two through four in the event. Fry, Czarnecka and freshman Julia Rodriguez followed up with the same order of finishes in the 100 Fly.

Freshman Reese Wakefield, who won the 3M dive during yesterday's competition, tallied 270.08 points on the 1M board to finish second in the event. Wakefield, who is in her first collegiate season, has yet to finish lower than second place and has already qualified for NCAA Zones in both the 1M and 3M events.

In the final individual race of the day, Halmai, senior Liz Zeiger and Hogan combined for nine points in the 200 IM. Zeigerwas just 0.07 seconds off a personal best in the event.

Czarnecka, freshman Hailey Jerew, Sulenta and Reinhardt earned the Eagles' final points of the day, as the group posted a second-place finish in a tightly-contested 200-yard freestyle relay. The Green and Blue quartet edged a Houston entry by just 0.09 seconds to earn the final four points for FGCU.

Up Next:
The Eagles will hit the road for a pair of meets in Ohio and Michigan. On Friday, Nov. 8, FGCU will swim against Marshall and host Toledo in a 6 p.m. meet that will be streamed on ESPN +. The following day, the Green and Blue will head to Ypsilanti, Mich. to compete against Oakland and host Eastern Michigan in a 1 p.m. meet.