Chase Henry
Staff Writer
The FGCU swimming and diving team (8-5-1) defeated Stony Brook University (4-5) by a score of 178-65 in a dual meet Saturday morning. Eight different Eagles finished in first place in 12 of the 13 events, including Reese Wakefield sweeping the one-meter dive and three-meter dive and FGCU sweeping both relay events, during the meet.
Cassidy Fry and Julia Rodriguez led the way for FGCU, with Fry securing 18 points and Rodriguez scoring 13 points in the meet. Wakefield’s wins also contributed 18 points and is the second straight where Wakefield swept both diving events.
Fry finished first in the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.24 and finished first in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 53.63. Rodriguez finished first in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 5:16.86.
Claire McAtee and Elizabeth White each contributed 12 points off the back of a first-place finish and a third-place finish. McAtee finished first in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:00.14, while White’s first-place finish was in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:06.94.
Hannah VanDress, Petra Halmai and Wiktoria Czarnecka rounded out the first-place finishes, with VanDress winning the 1650-yard freestyle, Halmai winning the 200-yard freestyle and Czarnecka winning the 100-yard butterfly.
The only event where Stony Brook finished in first place was in a photo finish in the 200-yard individual medley. Reagan MacDonald finished with a time of 2:10.83, touching the wall .01 seconds faster than Julia Rodriguez with her time of 2:10.84.
“It was a great day,” said head coach Dave Rollins. “Some of the athletes got another shot at the events they competed in a week ago, but most of them had the chance to swim something completely different. When it comes to swimming different events, you never know what to expect, but they did a great job. The support is always there, and their always cheering each other on. It’s great that we have the strength to be flexible in our lineup.”
Up next for swimming and diving is a trip to Boca Raton to compete against Florida Atlantic University on Friday, January 17, at 5 p.m.