Florida International kept their perfect dual meet record intact this season when they topped the visiting Florida Gulf Coast Eagles in a dual meet on Saturday.
The final score was 167-133, moving Florida International to 6-0 in dual meets, and dropping Florida Gulf Coast to 9-2.
This was the first-ever win for Florida International in the series, and is a mild upset over the Eagles who have been ranked as high as 24th in the SwimSwam Power Rankings this season.
Each team saw big days from their senior stars and NCAA qualifiers.
For FIU, that star is Johanna Gustafsdottir, who was swimming her final home meet. She started her day with a 1:52.84 to top the 200 free, a 2:20.62 to top the 200 breaststroke, and a 2:06.16 to win the 200 IM – one of her specialty events. The latter of those swims saw the best battle against Italian freshman teammate
The latter of those swims saw the best battle against Italian freshman teammate Silvia Scalia. Scalia led the race for the first 100 meters, but Gustafsdottir’s 36.06 breaststroke leg opened up an insurmountable gap. Scalia would make a second back in the last 50, but the deficit was too big to matter.
Scalia is a nice young talent for the rising FIU program. She placed 2nd in that 200 IM, was 2nd to Florida Gulf Coast’s All-American Kira Toussaint in the 100 back (56.28-56.62), and had an impressive swim in the 200 backstroke where she pulled away from Toussaint to win by more than three seconds (2:00.75-2:04.18).
While Florida International’s star tends toward the distance races, FGCU’s Emma Svensson tends toward the sprint events, and she topped all three of her individual swims on Saturday.
First came the 50 free in 23.52, where she ran-away-from FIU’s Jenny Deist (24.45), the runner-up. Next up came a victory in the 100 free in 50.95, and Svensson would cap the day with a 55.47 in the 100 fly – in contention for the best single swim of the day.
Svensson didn’t see a loss, other than in the final team tallies, on the whole day, as FGCU also won the 200 medley relay with Kira Toussaint (26.24), Evita Leter (28.87), Emma Svensson (24.44), and Becky Derogatis (24.13) combining for a 1:43.68 victory.
It wasn’t just the stars who decided this day, however; rather it was the performance by the FIU depth, as compared to the relative struggles by FGCU in the same, that made the biggest difference.
The Eagles won 6 events out of 14 in swimming, but weren’t able to go 1-2 in any of those 6 races to make up ground. Florida International was able to do it twice, and diving put the proverbial nail-in-the-coffin for the Panthers with a springboard sweep from very young freshman Becca Quesnel.
Florida International will wrap up their regular season next weekend by facing two other regional opponents, Florida Atlantic on Friday and Miami on Saturday, before heading into the Conference USA Championships. FGCU will hope to bounce back in a two-day dual against Florida State, against whom they got a big confidence boost by placing higher at the season-opening All-Florida Invite in October for the first time in program history.
Randy Horner has done a phenomenal job at FIU, and is one of the most underrated coaches in the country. He has been extremely successful at his mid-major stops so far in his career, and has turned FIU into a mid major powerhouse that regularly sends athletes to the NCAA Championships. Congratulations FIU on the win, and to Coach Horner. Go FIU!
You must be referring to since the start of the new year because I know FGCU was beaten at least by the South Carolina women on Oct 31st I believe
Flyin’ – you’re right. FGCU lists their record now as 9-1 in their post-meet press release, but maybe they just forgot to updated it after this loss. Will amend above.