FORT MYERS – FGCU swimming had a strong day against intra-state rival Miami with a 195-104 victory.
FGCU Press Release
Finishing first in 10 of 16 events, the FGCU swimming and diving team claimed its tenth all-time win over the University of Miami with a convincing 195-104 victory Saturday afternoon at the Lee County/FGCU Aquatic Center.
The triumph improves the Eagles to 2-0 on the young season and gives them a 5-3 advantage in the all-time series of head-to head competition against Miami. In their past 11 meetings with the Hurricanes, four being dual meets and seven others being invitationals, FGCU has totaled a combined 1,741 more points than Miami to claim 10 wins in just four seasons.
“We had a good day with a big win in front of our home crowd over a very good and improving Miami team,” head coach Neal Studd said. “I’m excited about how the girls raced today and am looking forward to going to South Carolina next weekend to face our second SEC opponent of the season.”
The 10 first-place finishes registered by the Green and Blue came from the efforts of four different Eagles. Leading the group was sophomore Kira Toussaint (Amstelveen, Netherlands/Keizer Karel College), who swam backstroke for the winning 200-yard medley relay team, finished first individually in both the 100 and 200-yard backstroke and capped the afternoon as anchor in the 400-yard freestyle relay with a winning touch. Joining Toussaint with pairs of first-place results in individual events were Emma Svensson (Uppsala, Sweden/Celsiusskolan), Katie Armitage (Bushey, United Kingdom/Queens School Bushey) and Yee Wong (Hong Kong, China/Dlocesan Girls’ School) as FGCU earned seven 1-2 finishes in Saturday’s contest.
Twenty-eight of the home team’s points came from relays, as the Eagles swept the 200-yard medley and the 400-yard freestyle. Starting FGCU down its path to victory was the team of Toussaint, Evita Leter (Paramaribo, Suriname/Doral Academy), Svensson and Rebecca Derogatis (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./ Cardinal Gibbons HS/Indian River) winning the 200 medley with a 1:42.09, before Leter, Armitage, Lani Cabrera (Barbados/St. Ursala’s Secondary School) and Toussaint ended the afternoon with a 3:30.17 to win the 400 free.
Toussaint turned in a couple of dominant performances racing her signature stroke, recording season lows in the 100 back (53.64) and 200 back (1:59.70) to surpass the 54.43 and 2:00.07 she clocked at the All Florida Invitational, which ranked 11th and 33rd in the nation, respectively.
Svensson continued to shine in freestyle winning the 50-yard race with a 23.17 and the 100-yard event with a 51.08. The team co-captain brought in four more points for the Green and Blue with a second-place finish in the 100 butterfly with a 57.01.
Freshmen Armitage and Wong had impressive showings with Armitage winning both breaststroke races after recording a 1:04.35 in the 100 and a season-low 2:19.60 in the 200 event. Wong’s pair of wins were the result of clocking a 2:04.79 in the 200 butterfly and a season-low 2:06.76 in the 200 IM.
Leading the Green and Blue in the diving well for the third time this season was senior Cayla Collins (Largo, Fla./Osceola High School) placing second on both boards with a season-high 267.32 in the 1-meter event and a 256.50 on 3-meter.
Up next the Eagles will travel to Columbia, S.C. to face the University of South Carolina Gamecocks in a dual meet Friday, Oct. 31 at 5 p.m.
Miami Press Release
Sophomore Cameron Davis and freshman diver Wally Layland were among a number of Hurricanes who impressed Saturday afternoon in a dual meet with the FGCU Eagles.
Davis, who helped anchor the Hurricanes during their first two competitions of the fall, turned in top finishes in both the 1000-yard freestyle and the 500 freestyle. Davis’ time in the 1000 freestyle (10:14.71) was over five seconds better than the second-place finisher, while a close victory in the 500 (5:01.95) gave Miami top points.
“Davis certainly led the way on the swimming end with her wins in the 500 and 1000,” head coach Andy Kershaw said. “She swam the races exactly like we talked about and like we’ve been working on. I was very proud of that.”
Layland delivered two top finishes of her own, sweeping the 1-meter and 3-meter events to give Miami the edge in diving. Layland finished with 289.35 in the 1-meter and ah impressive 3-meter point total of 314.85 in her collegiate debut.
“Layland’s two victories on the boards were huge,” Kershaw said. “This was her first chance to represent The U and she made us very proud.”
Freshman Julie Suarez continued her impressive start to college swimming with a top finish in the 200 freestyle (1:54.16). She also took third place in the 200 backstroke (2:08.72) and swam on Miami’s entry in the 200 medley relay.
“Suarez continues to be a tough racer and got a victory in the 200 free,” Kershaw said. “It’s great to ge that kind of contribution from a freshman.”
It came as no surprise that junior team captain My Fridell took first in the 100 butterfly, touching the wall in a time of 56.14 seconds.
“We always know we can count on Fridell to get to the wall when the 100 fly comes around,” Kershaw said. “Her stroke looked great.”
Despite falling to the Eagles 195-104, Kershaw was encouraged by the performance of his group.
“We didn’t get the outcome that we wanted in the score, but we saw some things we can build on and some areas we need to continue to work on,” Kershaw said.