Press Release courtesy of FIU Athletics
FIU swimming and diving will split up the squad to compete at different venues this weekend, including hosting the FIU Fall Classic at the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Center. The other members of the squad will compete in a pair of dual meets, against North Florida and Georgia Southern in Jacksonville on Saturday.
The Fall Classic will involve six women’s and five men’s teams in a two-day Classic format. Each team will be limited to nine swimmers and two divers and can only enter two swimmers per event. One will swim in the “A” race and the other in a “B” race, with normal championship scoring. There is no qualifying for places and the swimmers are predetermined to be in the A and B races. The divers will also compete in both an A and B program, with each team putting one diver in each program ahead of the competition.
In addition to FIU, in competition will be TCU, Florida Atlantic, George Washington, Army, Buffalo and Grand Canyon.
“This is a format that is popping up more and more,” said FIU Head Coach Randy Horner.
“It’s fun to do something different and the scoring keeps it close and competitive.”
The remainder of the team will get their work in up in Jacksonville in the pair of dual meets, hosted by North Florida.
“All of these competitions are important,” added Horner. “We have to be deep to compete in the Conference USA Championships, and I didn’t want to limit our competition so everyone can be competing and improving. We put up come good times at the Miami meet and it was very encouraging to be putting up swimming times and diving scores like that this early in the year.”
In defeating UM last weekend (164.5-115.5), FIU started the season in fine fashion. Panther senior Letizia Bertelli (Cremona, Italy) posted three top times for her career and won three individual events. In her first collegiate meet, freshman diver Rachel Foord (Melbourne, Australia) posted an NCAA qualifying mark by scoring 290.47 in the 3-meter springboard. Senior diver Rebecca Quesnel (Burlington, Ontario, Canada) took the top spot in the 1-meter, posting an NCAA qualifying mark of 289.57 from her season-opening program.
The Classic is a two-day format, with Friday action starting at 4 p.m.The Saturday events begin at 11 a.m. The Saturday dual meeting begins at 1 p.m.