Swim & Dive Third At FGCU

The Central Connecticut women's swimming and diving team finished third out of four teams in a quad-meet held at Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday afternoon. After a 40-day break in competition as a full team, the Blue Devils squared-off against Florida Gulf Coast, Liberty and Campbell at the FGCU Aquatics Center in Fort Myers, FL. The last time the Blue Devils' swimming and diving team competed as a full team was on Nov. 23 in the final day of competition at the Frank Elm Invitational at Rutgers University.

In head-to-head scoring between the four teams on Saturday, CCSU fell to FGCU 240-60, Liberty 195-98 and defeated Campbell 176-117. Freshman Maddy Garber led the way for the Blue Devils at the meet as she recorded two top-three finishes, including a first place finish in the 200 yard breaststroke and a third place finish in the 100 yard breaststroke.

Garber, a freshman from Milford, MA, took gold in the 200 yard breaststroke with a time of 2:19.16 and was less than a second from breaking the pool record. She earned her bronze medal in the 100 yard breaststroke with a time of 1:05.79. Garber was the only Blue Devil swimmer to place on the podium at the meet.

Junior Selene Chilton recorded the next best finish for CCSU and took fourth in the 1,000 yard freestyle. She touched the wall with a time of 10:39.10. Senior Karen Novak recorded a fifth place finish for Central in the 500 yard freestyle with a time of 5:10.64.

Senior Helene Neuhaus also had a productive day in the pool. She recorded a sixth place finish in the 200 yard backstroke with a time of 2:07.81 and an eighth place finish in the 100 yard backstroke with a time of 59.56. She also was the lead swimmer on two CCSU relay teams that finished first in its respective events for CCSU.

The 200 yard freestyle relay team that consisted of Neuhaus, freshmen Lauren Rasile and Lauren Czulewicz and sophomore Christine Rasile placed fifth out of 12 relay teams. The team combined to finish with a time of 1:39.27. The other relay team, the 200 yard medley relay team, was comprised of Neuhaus, Garber, sophomore Sabree Thomas and Christine Rasile and recorded a sixth place finish with a time of 1:51.07.

Senior Kaitlyn Dwyer and junior Kaitlyn Beaver led the way for the Blue Devils from the diving board. Dwyer picked up a pair of fourth place finishes from the 1-meter and 3-meter boards. She dove to a score of 206.40 from the 1-meter and 193.87 from the 3-meter. Beaver recorded a third place finish from the 3-meter with a score of 206.10 and took fifth place from the 1-meter board where she scored 201.60 in six dive attempts.

The Blue Devils remain in the state of Florida for their next contest on Jan. 8 where they will face-off in another quad-meet hosted by Florida International University. Joining CCSU and FIU at the meet will be Texas Christian University and Florida Atlantic University. The meet is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.