2018 Conference-USA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships
- Wednesday, February 21 – Saturday, February 24
- Georgia Tech Aquatics Center, Atlanta, GA (Eastern Time Zone)
- Defending Champion: Florida International (3x) (results)
- Live results
- Live Video (if available)
- Championship Central
- Day 1 final results
The Florida International Panthers made a big early statement on Wednesday as they open up defense of 3-straight Conference USA women’s titles. Not only did they win titles in each of the day’s two events, but they also broke school records.
First, they won the 200 medley relay in a time of 1:37.84. That out-raced runners-up Rice, who took 2nd in 1:39.56 (with near-perfect exchanges for the Owls – an aggregate reaction time of just .14 seconds across 3 starts).
FIU’s swim broke the old school record of 1:38.13 set at last year’s Conference USA Championships. Half of the relay (Noami Ruele – 24.53 backstroke, Letizia Bertelli – 23.48 butterfly) remained the same from last year, while they inserted a freshman on the breaststroke leg (Sara Gyertyanffy – 27.41) and dropped senior Ally Mayhew on the anchor, where she split 22.42. FIU had the fastest split of the field on each of the first 3 legs of the relay.
After a break, FIU again dominated in the 800 free relay with a 7:08.64. That again broke a year-old record of 7:09.02 from last year’s championship. The exact same foursome as last year swam on this year’s relay, with Skye Carey leading off with a 1:46.99, followed by Kyna Pereira, Berta Triola, and Megan Bowen. Three of the legs swam similar times to last year, with the big drop coming from the sophomore Bowen, who improved her split by almost half-a-second over last year.
Team Scores After Day 1:
- FIU – 80
- Rice – 74
- Marshall – 64
- North Texas – 60
- (TIE) Old Dominion/Florida Atlantic – 54
Go Owls! Congrats though to FIU for two school records.