FGCU Triple Distance Classic
- Friday, January 5th
- FGCU Aquatics Center, Fort Myers, Florida
- Short Course Yards
- Results
Team Scores
- FGCU – 395
- Liberty – 344
- Saint Louis – 267
- Rutgers – 245
Florida Gulf Coast kicked off its inaugural Triple Distance Classic by clocking wins against Rutgers, Liberty, and Saint Louis. They came on strong at the end, winning the last 3 events to soldify their lead over 2nd place finisher, Liberty. Liberty actually won the most events, 8, followed by 6 events by FGCU, and 5 by Rutgers.
The Triple Distance Classic features the 50, 100, and 200 of every stroke, plus the 500 and 1000 free, the 100, 200, and 400 IM, and the 200 free and 200 medley relays. The order of events was the 200 medley relay, 1000 free, 200 fly, 200 back, 200 breast, 200 free, 400 IM, 500 free, 100 fly, 100 back, 100 breast, 100 free, 200 IM, 50 fly, 50 back, 50 breast, 50 free, 100 IM, and 200 free relay.
The only swimmer to win all 3 events of the same stroke was Liberty breaststroker, Prudence Rooker, who took all 3 breast events by about a second. Rooker also put up better times as she came down from the 200 to the 50, posting times of 2:22.67/1:05.90/29.41. Rooker was also on the winning 200 medley relay, but the breast and fly splits are missing from that race so we don’t know how fast she went.
Rutgers got off to a quick start, winning 3 of the first 4 events, but only took 2 more wins after that, and ended up in last place. Francesca Bertotto and Vera Kopkrivova each won 2 events, with Bertotto taking the 1000 and 500, and Kopkrivova winning the 50 and 200 back, but dropping the 100. Bertotto posted times of 10:14.71 and 5:01.12 and won them by a combined 26.73 seconds. Kopkrivova, on the other hand, won the 200 back by nearly 2 seconds (2:02.02), then dropped the 100 back to Liberty’s Brittany Weiss, then out-touched Weiss by .07 seconds in the 50 (27.22) to claim victory again. Interestingly, Weiss got 6th in the 200 back with a time of 2:12.12, where she split 1:11.00 on the back 100. Weiss then came down to 57.54 in the 100 back, hitting the wall just .23 seconds before Kopkrivova.
Rutgers’ only other win came from Francesca Stoppa, who won the 200 fly at the beginning of the meet, and posted her 2nd slowest time of the season, but split the race pretty well for an in-season 200 fly. Stoppa touched the wall in 2:02.81, taking the race out in a 59.07 and coming home in a 1:03.74.
FGCU’s Yee Ching Wong won the 100 and 200 IM, taking the former by nearly 2 seconds and the latter by over 4. Her 200 IM time of 2:06.55 was a great swim for the first week of January considering her personal best time in the event is 2:03.08 from last season.
Event Winners
- 200 medley relay: Liberty (Keiner, Rooker, Weiss, Hoeve) – 1:44.95
- 200 free relay: FGCU (Redding, Burdge, Moynihan, Eichhorn) – 1:36.12
- 50 free: Hannah Burdge (FGCU) – 23.95
- 100 free: Hannah Burdge (FGCU) – 51.85
- 200 free: Hannah Baker (Liberty) – 1:53.62
- 500 free: Francesca Bertotto (Rutgers) – 5:01.12
- 1000 free: Francesca Bertotto (Rutgers) – 10:14.71
- 50 back: Vera Kopkrivova (Rutgers) – 27.22
- 100 back: Brittany Weiss (Liberty) – 57.54
- 200 back: Vera Kopkrivova (Rutgers) – 2:02.02
- 50 fly: Alicia Finnigan (Liberty) – 26.38
- 100 fly: Alicia Finnigan (Liberty) – 56.46
- 200 fly: Francesca Stoppa (Rutgers) – 2:02.81
- 50 breast: Prudence Rooker (Liberty) – 29.41
- 100 breast: Prudence Rooker (Liberty) – 1:05.90
- 200 breast: Prudence Rooker (Liberty) – 2:22.67
- 100 IM: Yee Ching Wong (FGCU) – 59.37
- 200 IM: Yee Ching Wong (FGCU) – 2:06.55
- 400 IM: Liz Zeiger (FGCU) – 4:28.14
Press Release – FGCU:
FORT MYERS, Fla. – After a chilly evening for the first meet of the year, the FGCU swimming and diving team won the Triple Distance Classic with 395 points on Friday night at the FGCU Aquatics Center.
2017 CCSA runner-up Liberty finished second with 344, St. Louis in 267, and Rutgers closing it out with 245. This is the second time this season the Eagles won a competition against the Scarlet Knights.
“This event is what college swimming is all about,” FGCU head coach Dave Rollinssaid. “The team support from everyone on the deck, from every team, the enjoyment, the spirit, and cheering. Everyone is in heavy training, and while we wish it was a bit warmer, competed very well. My hat goes off to everyone who was on that deck and in those stands this evening. It was an incredible experience, win lose, or draw didn’t matter. We put this meet together to do something different and to have some fun! We are looking forward to next year.”
Sprint freestylers, butterfliers, backstrokers, and breaststrokers competed in a 50, 100, and 200 of their stroke. The distance swimmers competed in a 200, 500, and 1000 freestyle. Individual medley swimmers swam a 100, 200, and 400 IM. There was also a 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay offered for each team, which contributed to their overall final score. Points were determined based off of the fastest combined time of an overall event.
The evening began with two quartets of Eagle swimmers taking the second and third place spot in the 200 yard medley relay. The team of Doris Eichhorn (Berlin, Germany/HTW Berlin), Sommer Harris (Richmond, Va./St. Catherine’s School), Yee Ching Wong (Hong Kong, China/Diocesan Girls’ School), and Hannah Burdge (Stuart, Fla./Martin County HS) just missed the top spot behind Liberty by less than a second (1:45.20). The team of Courtney Chapin (Bradenton, Fl/Lakewood Ranch High School), Petra Halmai (Dombovar, Hungary/Lanczos Kornel Secondari Grammar School), Gracie Redding (Orlando, Fla/The First Academy), and Rebecca Moynihan (Palmerston North, New Zealand/Waiopehu College) finished in 1:46.88.
Linda Shaw (Leeds, United Kingdom/Roundhay HS) and Antonia Baerens(Ottobrunn, Germany/Max-Josef-Stift Gymnasium) represented for the distance portion of the classic competing in the 1000, 500, and 200 yard freestyle. The duo combined a total of 32 points to contribute to the overall score. Shaw finished second in the 1000 (10:32.97), third in the 500 (5:10.29) and the 200 (1:57.48). Baerens finished in fourth in the 1000 (10:43.77), 500 (5:10.75), and 200 (1:59.26).
Eichhorn competed for the backstrokers on the night as she placed third in all three of her events, the 200 (2:08.22), 100 (57.91) and 50 (27.45). Harris led the way for the Green and Blue in all of the breaststroke events, except for one, which was claimed by Elizabeth White (Fort Myers, Fla./Riverdale HS). Harris finished eighth place in the 200 (2:31.26), second in the 100 (1:06.72) and third in the 50 (30.70). White took third in the 200 (2:24.93) and 100 (1:06.88), while she finished fourth in the 50 (31.29). In the butterfly, Madison Jean‘s (Parrish, Fla./Lakewood Ranch HS) performance came in the 50 yard, finishing third overall (26.55).
FGCU’s most impressive performance came from the individual medley events as two Eagles swept them in first place fashion. Wong won the 200 (2:06.55) and 100 (59.37) yard, while Elizabeth Zeiger (Cumberland, R.I./Homeschool) won the 400 (4:28.14) and took second in the 200 (2:10.71). Zeiger’s overall time combination from her events won her the overall series win in the IM adding 20 points to the team’s score.
Burdge was unstoppable in the freestyle, and took home the overall win in the triple series with 20 points, as she won the 100 (51.85) and 50 (23.95), while taking second in the 200 by less than a second (1:54.14). Redding finished third in the 200 (1:56.21), fourth in the 100 (53.08), and the second spot in the 50 (24.03).
The Eagles finished off the night by winning the final relay by .34 seconds. The team of Redding, Burdge, Moynihan, and Eichhorn took the win over Liberty with a time of 1:36.12, adding a total of 40 points to the overall score.
Press Release – Liberty:
The Liberty swimming & diving team opened the year 2018 with a second-place finish at the FGCU Triple Distance Classic, held Friday at FGCU Aquatics Complex.
The meet featured a unique scoring system, with athletes swimming three events in each stroke and being scored on their total time. Liberty had two stroke champions, in Alicia Finnigan (butterfly) and Prudence Rooker (breaststroke).
The host Florida Gulf Coast Eagles won with 395 points, followed by Liberty (344), Saint Louis (267) and Rutgers (245), in that order.
The Lady Flames won seven individual events and one relay, while Rutgers earned six individual-event victories and FGCU won four events plus one relay race. Liberty’s Prudence Rooker won all three breaststroke races (50, 100 and 200), while Alicia Finnigan took first in the 50 fly and 100 fly.
Liberty claimed the meet-opening 200 medley relay, as the quartet of Payton Keiner, Prudence Rooker, Brittany Weiss and Rachel Hoeve swam 1:44.95, edging out FGCU’s 1:45.20.
Rooker earned her first win of the night in the 200 breaststroke, swimming 2:22.67. Morgan Noonan followed in second at 2:23.57.
The 100 breaststroke went to Rooker as well, as the Liberty senior won in 1:05.90. Lady Flames junior Ricki Lee Hodges finished fourth in 1:08.80, while Noonan took fifth in 1:08.85.
Rooker completed the evening sweep by taking the 50 breaststroke with a 29.41, while teammate Hodges finished as the runner-up in 30.26.
Finnigan opened the butterfly races with a second-place finish in the 200 fly, swimming 2:03.23. Lindsey Cohee placed third in 2:03.90. Finnigan later won the 100 fly in 56.46, while Cohee (58.44) and Ashley Mauzy (58.58) placed fourth and fifth, respectively.
In the 50 fly, Finnigan won a tight race in 26.38, as just 0.2 seconds separated Finnigan and fourth-place Mauzy (26.58).
Hannah Baker had a strong showing in the freestyle, winning the 200 free in 1:53.62, while Hoeve (1:57.27) followed in fifth. Baker took third in the 50 free with a 24.18 clocking and also claimed third in the 100 free in 52.82. Chelsea Pond‘s 53.67 100 free time was good for fifth.
Weiss took first in the 100 back with a 57.54 time, while Keiner swam 57.94 in placing fourth. Weiss finished second in the 50 back in 27.29, and Keiner finished fourth in 27.52.
Keiner claimed a runner-up finish for the 200 back, swimming 2:03.90.
In the individual medley relay circuit, Kiah Francis placed second in both the 100 IM (1:01.08) and 400 IM (4:32.59). Emily Manlytook third in the 400 IM (4:36.46) and fourth in the 100 IM (1:01.97). Manly swam 2:11.20 for third in the 200 IM, while Francis’ 2:11.60 was good for fourth.
Amy Schools earned a second-place finish in one-meter diving, scoring 187.05 points, while finishing ahead of all of FGCU’s divers.
Liberty finished second in the 200 free relay to close out the meet, as Hoeve, Colleen Donlin, Weiss and Baker totaled 1:36.46.
Ashlee Sall picked up fifth-place finishes in both the 500 free (5:17.03) and 1000 free (10:45.25).
The Lady Flames will return home to host Marshall and UNC Asheville, next Saturday, Jan. 13 at 11 a.m. at Liberty Natatorium.