FIU seniors dominate final home meet

By Luis Barroso/Staff Writer

Saturday, Jan. 11, was an eventful day for the FIU Swimming and Diving team, but especially for its seniors as it marked their last home meet as Panthers.

It was the last time flags were raised in the FIU pool this season and in a day full of goodbyes and celebration for the team, they still did not lose focus, and kept their target on sight. FIU went on to sweep the meet by winning all 13 events and defeating Central Connecticut State University by a score of 146-90.

Senior Sonia Perez Arau went on to win the 1000 freestyle for the Panthers clocking in a time of 10:37.55. Aside from Perez, junior Danielle Meara also had success in the long distance swimming by finishing third in the 1000 freestyle, and taking the 500 freestyle event after posting a time of 5:12.59.

The FIU seniors teamed up on the 200 Freestyle relay event as Valeriia Popova, Perez Arau, Mary Boucher and Sarah D’Antoni went on to conquer the event with a time of 1:42.

Popova also gave FIU another collective win when she went on to win the 200 medley relay along with junior Klara Andersson, and freshmen Jennifer Alfani and Jennifer Deist with a mark of 1:47.89. D’Antoni also captured first place in the 100 butterfly on her Senior Day with a time of 59 seconds. FIU swept the 200 freestyle as well as the 50 freestyle by placing 1-2-3 on both events. Junior Courtney VanderSchaaf won the 50 freestyle as well as the 100 freestyle.

It was a special day also in the diving platforms as senior Sabrina Beaupre made her last jumps into the FIU pool, a pool that has seen her break many records and win major competitions. Beaupre went on to win both events on record breaking fashion as she went on to set the program and pool record in the 1-meter dive event and shattering the past school record by more than 10 points by having posted a score of 335.85 breaking the previous record of 323.85 that had been set in  late 2011 by Carrie Dragland. Beaupre also took the 3-meter diving competition by posting a score of 330.67. The senior went on to comment on her season.

“As one of the experienced divers I don’t necessarily take it easier as a senior, I’m giving it all I got,” Beaupre said.

This victory is what FIU will hope to feed off of into a big matchup against Florida Gulf Coast University in a couple of weeks, a matchup that will be very important for the Panthers as it will be an away meet and as we draw closer to the Conference USA Championship and later the NCAA Competitions. This will be a key matchup as FIU seeks to maintain the momentum on their favor on a meet against a fellow Fla. rival in Fort Myers.

The Panthers will continue their regular training methods and they will seek somewhat of a breather after competing in two invites and one meet in a two week span, but at the end of the day everything is a practice, to continue to progress and set higher individual goals during the season in order to come out strong for the real competitions at the end of the season.

“Conference USA Championships are on Feb 27, a couple of months away, we will keep training all throughout Jan and suiting in Feb as we start resting and preparing for our peak,” Head Coach Randy Horner said.