Hurricanes Win Miami Invite, Top Vandy and Iowa

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The Miami Hurricanes swimming team capped its weekend with wins over Vanderbilt and Iowa at the Miami Invite Saturday.

“It was a very good last day. I think the last session was our best session, which speaks a lot to the courage of the team after a long week and long meet,” head swimming coach Andy Kershaw said.

The Hurricanes received a tremendous 1-2 punch from Adrianna Cera and Aino Otava in the 1,650-yard freestyle to start the night’s finals. Cera (16:44.51) and Otava (16:45.71) delivered impressive performances in the first individual event to set the tone for the final session.

Danika Huizinga won the 200-yard backstroke (1:59.36) ahead of Cera (2:00.35), while veteran Carmen San Nicolas (49.93) won the 100-yard freestyle. A day after helping lead the Hurricanes in the lanes, freshman Giulia Carvalho showed her mettle by winning the 200-yard breaststroke (2:14.83) in comfortable fashion.

Miami closed the meet with a strong showing the 400-yard freestyle relay, with San Nicolas, Cera, Jacey Hinton and Sydney Knapp touching the wall in a time of 3:22.45 to put the finishing touches on an impressive weekend.

“I’m very proud of them,” Kershaw said. “The team is very excited but I think has a great perspective and understand that this is just the middle of the year. It has put us in a great place to move forward.

“As I told them, the secret ingredient is our energy. That’s what they had to conjure up and that’s what they did. I’m looking forward to keeping that going.”