By: Malcolm Shields / Contributing Writer
The Golden Panthers swimming and diving team returne back to action at the Bay Vista Aquatics Complex on Jan. 15 against the University of Miami and Central Connecticut State University in a dual meet. The week prior, the Golden Panthers finished second at the FIU Invitational with a score of 806 points.
The squad would wind up finishing second in head-to-head competition against both schools.
Coach Randy Horner would have liked to have seen more events go their way.
“We compete hard in the head to head duals,” Horner said. “We definitely feel like today we could have been more competitive. We lost a lot of close races and that kind of defined our day.”
The action began with the 400-yard medley relay. FIU’s relay team of Danielle Sneir, Erin Pavlick, Yesica Rojas and Kariann Stevens began the relay solidly in third, only behind two Miami relay teams. Rojas swam a strong third leg to keep the Golden Panthers close but the relay team would end up finishing fourth with a time of 4:02.14.
In the 200-yard freestyle, sophomore Kayla Derr continued to build on an solid season as she swam one of her best times of the season as she finished second overall in the event with a time of 1:55.62, just .49 hundredths of a second off of her season best of 1:55.13, which was set at the FIU Invitational.
Junior Vicnan Torres also had a good result in the 200 free, finishing fourth with a time of 1:57.75, just .74 hundredths of a second off of her best time this season of 1:57.01, which was set against Tulane on Nov. 13.
In the 200-yard butterfly, freshman Melissa Moreno swam a great race at the start but came up just short as she finished second to Central Connecticut State’s Katie Lang. Moreno’s time of 2:08.80 was just .59 hundredths of a second behind Lang.
In the 100-yard freestyle, junior Mariangela Macchiavello and Derr swam to third and fourth place finishes, respectively.
After the meet, Coach Horner pressed the importance of finishing events strong to his team.
“It’s something we need to work on,” Horner said. That’s something that’s inside the athlete; the ability to finish close races but there were a lot of good times today… We have something to build on.”
New Season Best Times
In the 200-yard IM, junior Elly James set a season best time of 2:17.35, topping her season best of 2:17.36 set against the University of North Florida on Oct. 16.
Erin Pavlick also improved her individual time in the 200-yard breaststroke. She finished fourth in the event with a time of 2:27.25, a season new best time by .04 hundredths of a second.
Another Golden Panther who set a season best time was senior Joanna Pomerantz. She completed the 200-yard backstroke in 2:11.07, a 1.28 second improvement on her season best from the first meet of the season against Florida Atlantic and Florida State.
Kristine Metka completed the 500 yard freestyle in 5:19.61. That time topped her season best time of 5:20.35, a .74 hundredths of a second improvement. In the same event, teammate Jennifer Lee established a new season best with a time of 5:23.38, a .38 hundredths of a second improvement.
In the final event of the afternoon, the FIU 400 yard freestyle relay team of Derr, Stevens, Torres and Macchiavello set a team best time of 3:34.06. That time was good enough for a second place finish. “It’s always good to have it [the relay team] as a rallying point,” Coach Horner said.
Toughing it out
In diving, redshirt Freshman Sabrina Beaupre had to deal with an injury with her hand but that did not deter her from placing third in the one meter and second in the three meter diving events with scores of 252.70 and 244.10 respectively.
“She has really shown some character when dealing with adversity. She has been injured and sucking it up,” Horner said.
After the meet, Beaupre expressed her satisifaction with her performance.
“I’m proud of what I did today and I think I’m gonna keep on improving,” Beaupre said.
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