Hurricanes Storm past FIU in Swimming & Diving, 152-79
Jan. 31, 2009
Miami, Fla. – Miami collected 22 top three times on Saturday en route to a decisive 152-79 victory over local rival FIU in swimming & diving action at the Bay Vista Aquatics Complex in Miami, Florida. The Hurricanes were competing in their last dual race of the year, while the Golden Panthers were enjoying Senior Day at their newly-renovated facility.
In their last dual race before the upcoming Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Championships, Miami improved to 10-7 on the year–the best dual record for the Hurricanes since the women’s and men’s programs were combined into one several years back … and ultimately prior to joining the ACC.
Under the direction of third-year head coach Christie Shefchunas, the Hurricanes have achieved their best performance overall since finishing 12-2 in 1995-96, a record for the women’s program, separately.
With the loss, FIU drops to just 2-9 on the year.
The action began on Friday as the UM diving team swept 1- and 3-meter action with defending National Champion Brittany Viola cruising on the 3-meter springboard with a score of 360.60 to finish in first place. FIU’s Namiko Shibata was second with 230.63. UM Senior Jenna Dreyer finished atop the 1-meter standings as she collected a score of 313.88 in her first action since October 25 at Duke. Viola finished behind her in a very close second place with a score of 313.13–the tightest contest between two UM divers all season.
In the pool in Saturday’s action, UM posted a Top 5 season time in the 200 medley relay as the `Canes went 1:48.77, leadoff by Britta Boesing and anchored by Annika Saarnak. Cori Lallier took second place in the 1000 freestyle with a time of 10:39.32–finishing three seconds better than FIU’s Regina Mayer who was second at 10:42.58.
The Orange and Green went “1-2-3”, respectively, in the 200 freestyle, with Ryann Labreche touching at 1:56.59, followed by Tiffany Petzold (1:58.79) and Lizzi Torres (1:59.15). The `Canes again went first through third in the 200 individual medley with freshman Dana Hatic leading the charge as she touched the wall in 2:13.22, followed abruptly by teammates Sagette Van Embden (2:15.26) and classmate Erin Simpson (2:15.49).
The 100 butterfly saw much of the same as Saarnak cruised to a winning time of 57.68, trailed by Deidre Novotny who was in at 58.03, and then Boesing at 1:00.31. Kirsten Pomerleau collected her first win of the year in the 100 freestyle with a mark of 53.44, while freshman Hagar Elgendy finished second at 54.64.
Simpson continued her Top 3 ways with a second place showing in the 100 backstroke, touching the wall at 1:02.60. Labreche took another first place time in the 500 freestyle with a time of 5:07.57, followed by teammate Petzold who was second with 5:17.73 to her credit. Dana Hatic followed her classmate with a win in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.89), and Katie Eason followed suit in second place for the event at 1:07.71.
Miami finished off the day in the 200 freestyle relay, cruising to an impressive first place time of 1:40.59–the seventh-fastest time for any UM team in the event on the campaign.
Miami has now defeated FIU in consecutive matches this season, with the last win coming back on October 18 in Coral Gables. UM holds a commanding 9-0 record all-time against the Golden Panthers, having won the last six matches by an average of 88.7 points.
The Hurricanes will have some time to rest before embarking back to College Park, Maryland for the ACC Championships set for February 18-21.
For more information on the upcoming ACC Swimming & Diving Championships, please log on to www.hurricanesports.com — your one-stop location for up-to-date news, stats and standings for all University of Miami Hurricanes athletics.
