Courtesy: Florida Gulf Coast Athletics
FORT MYERS, Fla. – The blue team emerged victorious from the FGCU swimming & diving team’s annual Green and Blue scrimmage on Friday evening at the FGCU Aquatics Complex. Though the opposing sides battled it out throughout the event, team blue eventually dug out a 130-113 win.
“It was an exciting evening of racing,” said head coach Dave Rollins. “We were in a unique situation because we split the team between our newcomers and the returners, but both teams brought the same energy. Every event was very fun to watch. To see two meet records set was surprising because we haven’t done any work on race details yet. For our girls to be able to compete the way they did was very encouraging for the rest of the season. In addition to the competition being exciting, the support we had from fans was amazing. The team put on quite a show for everyone in attendance and we are excited to keep the good times going.”
Team green claimed the first event of the night, taking home the 200-yard medley relay. Freshman Kaja Reinhardt (Herdecke, Germany/Helene-Lange-Gymnasium Dortmund), representing team blue, responded by winning the 300-yard freestyle, the meet’s first individual race.
The green team’s senior Elizabeth Zeiger (Cumberland, R.I./Homeschool) and junior Petra Halmai earned points with back-to-back wins in the 150 back and the 150 breast. Halmai’s (Dombovar, Hungary/Lanczos Komel Secondari Grammar School) time in the 150-yard breaststroke was a meet record.
At the halfway mark, the green team had a one-point edge over blue as the score was 58-57.
Team blue picked up some momentum in the diving events as it swept both the 1- and 3-meter dives. Freshman Reese Wakefield (Guelph, Ontario, Canada/Bishop Macdonelle CHS) won the 1-meter dive while classmate Isabeau Keene (Demorest, Ga./Tallulah Falls HS) took home the 3-meter title.
The blue team continued to pick up wins down the stretch as freshman Julia Rodriguez (Gainesville, Fla./Buchholz HS) turned in a meet record in the 50-yard butterfly and won the 100-yard IM.
“All in all, it was a great event,” said Rollins. “It was so exciting to see many of our new athletes winning events. A lot of coaches talk about how ‘the future is bright’, but for us, the future is now.”
Green & Blue Meet Winners
200 medley relay – Team Green
300 Free – Kaja Reinhardt
150 Back – Elizabeth Zeiger
150 Breast – Petra Halmai *
150 Fly – Cassidy Fry
50 Free – Wiktoria Czarnecka
Swimmers diving event – Hannah VanDress
3M dive – Isabeau Keene
50 kick with fins – Karin Schienvar
300 IM – Petra Halmai
50 Back – Lucija Sulenta
150 Free – Kaja Reinhardt
50 Fly – Julia Rodriguez *
50 Breast – Hailey Jerew
1M dive – Reese Wakefield
100 IM – Julia Rodriguez
Running dive relay – Team Blue
* – Denotes a meet record
Up Next
FGCU will welcome former Eagles back to campus for the Alumnae Meet, which will take place Saturday morning at the FGCU Aquatics Complex. The meet is slated for a 10 a.m. start. After that, FGCU will officially kick off the 2019-20 season on the road against Campbell and UNF. The three teams will compete at the Bolles School in Jacksonville on Friday, Oct. 4. The three teams will begin the competition at Noon.
