By Chase Henry
Staff Writer
The FGCU women’s swimming and diving team (6-4) finished ninth with 554 points at the Phil Hansel Invitational hosted by the University of Houston from Nov. 21 through Nov. 23. Petra Halmai set a new program record and a new CCSA record in the 200-yard breaststroke, with a time of 2:11:21.
On the first day of the competition, Halmai finished seventh in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 2:01.68. Wiktoria Czarnecka finished fifth in the A final of the 50-yard freestyle with a time 22.94.
Reese Wakefield finished sixth in the 1-meter dive with 249.35 points. The Eagles missed some crucial points with a disqualification in the 400-yard medley relay.
On the second day of competition, the Eagles finished third in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:41.45 behind Lucija Salenta, Halmai, Julia Rodriguez and Czarnecka.
Elizabeth Zeiger finished in third place in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 4:18.07.
Halmai finished sixth in the A Final of the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:01.12, which met the requirements to be an NCAA B-cut time.
Wakefield and Delaney Nelson also finished sixth and 17th, respectively, in the 3-meter dive.
Day three of the competition was highlighted by Halmai breaking the record in the 200-yard breaststroke.
Michaela Sizemore and Hannah VanDress finished within one second of each other for 16th and 17th in the 1650-yard freestyle. Zeiger and Rodriguez finished 15th and 21st, respectively, in the 200-yard backstroke.
Czarnecka finished fifth in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 50.03
Halmai, Anna Hogan and Elizabeth White all finished in the top 25 in the 200-yard breaststroke, with Halmai finishing second with her record time, while Hogan finished 21st and White finished 23rd.
Halmai and Rodriguez picked up the Eagles’ final points of the meet, finishing second and 16th in the 200-yard butterfly. Halmai earned her second, second-place finish with a time of 1:59.35, while Rodriguez finished with a time of 2:07.69.
“What an incredible final session for our team,” said head coach Dave Rollins. “Ultimately the relay [disqualification] and our lack of platform experience cost us in the team standings. “However the team did a great job competing, and we are starting to see the potential of our program and are setting up well for CCSAs.”
Following the completion of this meet, women’s swimming and diving have now completed the fall portion of the swimming and diving campaign, as the team takes a break before returning to the FGCU aquatics center on Jan. 4, 2020 with a meet against Liberty University, Illinois State University, and Tulane University.