Press Release courtesy of FIU Athletics
Following its dominant performance last weekend against Illinois, FIU earned both a Co-Swimmer of the Week (Naomi Ruele) and the Diver of the Week (Rachel Foord) by Conference USA, the league announced this week.
Junior Naomi Ruele (Gaborone, Botswana) won all three individual events and swam a leg of four winning relay events as FIU defeated Illinois by nearly 100 points in a two-day home meet last weekend at the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Center in North Miami. Among her accomplishments, she swam the anchor leg for FIU in the 400 Free Relay to end the Friday session, with a 3:47.43, the fastest time by a Conference USA squad this season. She is coming off of qualifying for three relay events for FIU in the NCAA Championships last season.
Freshman Rachel Foord (Melbourne, Australia) took first in the 3-meter diving event (283.12) in the second day of the two-day home dual meet with Illinois over the weekend. During Friday’s opening session, the freshman was second (273.67) to senior teammate Rebecca Quesnel by finishing less than three points behind her (276.52) to start the day. Both scores met the NCAA Zone-qualifying standard. The reigning C-USA Diver of the Week maintains the top score in the conference in the 3-meter springboard (324.20) to this point of the season, and the second-best score (277.60) to Quesnel in the 1-meter springboard.
The Panthers will compete in the prestigious Purdue Invite, starting next Thursday thru Saturday, to complete the semester’s pre-exams schedule.