The 12th edition of the FINA World Swimming Championships is set to take place this week at the Hamad Aquatic Centre in Doha, Qatar, where FGCU swimmer Lani Cabrera will be competing on behalf of her native nation, Barbados. Cabrera holds five national records and will be competing in the World Championship for a second time. The event is scheduled to take place Dec. 3-7.
“I am excited for Lani,” coach Neal Studd said. “Although not the best time of year for an NCAA athlete we thought it was an important step on the way to the Rio Olympic Games. I am sure she will do well and is always proud to represent her home country. After setting a new national record in Mexico in November, she has her sights on some more. We wish her the best of success and safe travels back to Florida to be ready for the next home meets.”
Cabrera is coming off a stellar weekend at the Georgia Tech Invite, where she placed ninth in the 1650 Free with a time of 16:51.83 and 16th overall in the 200 yard free with a time of 1:50.28. She will be competing in the 200 free, 400 free, and 800 free at the World Championships Short Course.
Two years ago, as a freshman, she placed 12th out of 21 competitors in the 800-yard freestyle with a time of 8:57.56. She broke her own record of 9:00.09, which she set earlier that year in at the Southern Sectionals in Orlando. Her five national records for Barbados are in the 200-yard free (2:06.43), 400-yard free (4:23.31), 1500-yard free (17:16.87) and 400-yard IM (5:14.52).
As a sophomore, Cabrera garnered CCSA All-Conference honors winning the 1,650 freestyle in a career-best 16:36.63 and placed third at the conference meet in the 500 freestyle in a career-best 4:49.88. She recorded a career-best 24.88 in the 50 free against FIU and clocked two career-highs at the Georgia Tech Invite with a 51.52 in the 100 free and a 4:49.72 in the 500 free. She swam another personal best against Miami, finishing the 1000 free in 10:14.59.
The FGCU swimming and diving team (2-1, 1-0 CCSA) closed the Georgia Tech Invitational in fourth-place with 573.5 points. The final day of the event for FGCU was highlighted by a program and CCSA record time in the 400 yard freestyle relay.
No. 11 Florida won the women’s meet by a wide margin with 1359 points. Arkansas finished second with 861.5 points followed by Florida State (686) and FGCU (573.5). Vanderbilt (449), Georgia Tech (371), FAU (353.5), Miami (348), Bowling Green (286) and Colorado State (251.5) round out the top 10 with Indian River (213), South Carolina (151), Campbell (120), Auburn (93), Clemson (63), Utah (37) and Tulane (10) placing 11-17.
CONFERENCE HONOR QUEENS
The Eagles have earned six CCSA weekly honors, with the most recent being Emma Svensson’s third recognition of the season. FGCU swept the first wave of CCSA weekly honors on Oct. 7 with Svensson named Swimmer of the Week and Collins Diver of the Week following their success at the season-opening All Florida Invite. Svensson continued on to earn another Swimmer of the Week title on Oct. 21 after three first-place touches in FGCU’s 175-120 defeat of Incarnate Word.
Up next the Eagles will return home for a dual meet opposite North Florida on Dec. 16 at 10 a.m. Followed by a dual meet with Georgia Tech and FAU on Dec. 18.