Over the weekend, the No. 24 FGCU swimming and diving team competed in Atlanta, Georgia at the Georgia Tech Invite.
The team finished in second place for the first day of the invite on Thursday, Nov. 19. School records were set at the McAuley Aquatics Center by Lani Cabrera in the 500-yard freestyle and Barbara Caraballo in the 200-yard individual medley. The Eagles finished first in the 200-yard freestyle relay and the 50-yard freestyle as well that evening.
“It was a great day one for the girls, as they started fast and put themselves in a good position for the rest of the weekend,” Head Coach Neal Studd said to FGCU athletics.
FGCU went into day two of the meet trailing No. 21 Arkansas by 75 points. The team continued its strong showing on Friday with three first place finishes. Freshman Elise Haan took home the first win of the day in the 100-yard backstroke while achieving a season-best time of 52.23 and qualifying for the NCAA “B” cut.
The second win of the day was in the 200-yard medley relay race. The relay team of Haan, Yee Ching Wong, Katie Armitage and Katie Latham beat out Arkansas by seven-tenths of a second.
Haan racked up another win for the Eagles in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 52.52. The team finished the second day of the invite at third in the standings behind Arkansas and Alabama.
On the final day of the meet, Cabrera started off with a second place finish in the 1650-yard freestyle. Cabrera broke the standing six-year school record for the event with the time of 16:35.50.
Haan continued to shine for the Eagles on Saturday by qualifying for the NCAA “B” cut in two events. She achieved a season-best time in the 200-yard backstroke and finished sixth in the 100-yard freestyle.
Other notable performances from the final day of the invite came from Armitage in the 200-yard breastroke, freshman Christina Kaas Elmgreen in the 200-yard butterfly and the freestyle team of Sara Hamilton, Caraballo, Latham, and Haan in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
FGCU finished third overall in the Georgia Tech Invite with a final score of 850. The Eagles trailed Alabama, who finished with a score of 1022.5, and Arkansas, who finished with 1112.
“I am extremely proud of the way the girls competed this weekend,” Studd said to FGCU athletics. “We stacked up well against some of the best competition we’ve seen this season, and I hope we can keep it going once competition starts back up in the new year.”
The Georgia Tech Invite was the last meet for FGCU’s fall season. The swimming and diving season will continue on Sunday, Jan. 3 when the Eagles will host Rice University at the FGCU Aquatics Center.