STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern swimming and diving team returns to action for the first time since November 23rd at a tri-meet in Fort Myers, Fla. The Lady Eagles (4-5) will face CCSA conference foes Florida Gulf Coast (6-3) and Radford (1-5) at the FGCU Aquatics Center on Saturday, January 10th.
"It's been over a month since we've stepped on the blocks in a meet. It is exciting for us to race again and get back into racing mode,” said head coach Nathan Kellogg. “Coming off of a tough few weeks of training, we have to keep in mind that this is a dual meet. Each swim will be an opportunity to see where we are at this stage in the season and what we need to do to prepare for the CCSA Championship meet in February."
Georgia Southern finished sixth in their last event, the Davidson Invitational. Former CCSA Swimmer of the Week Lauren Parr (Canton, Ohio) finished second in the 200 yard butterfly and third in the 400 yard IM. She was also a member of the third place 400 medley relay team.
The Lady Eagles faced Radford earlier in the season and defeated them 93-2 at the October 11th tri-meet hosted by Campbell in Buies Creek, N.C. Parr started her season off with a win in the 500 and 1000 yard freestyle events. Courtney Martz (Woodbine, Ga.) won the 100 yard butterfly and finished fourth in the 200 yard freestyle. Lindsay Goodman (Knoxville, Tenn.) picked up her first victory of the season in the 100 yard backstroke. Georgia Southern also won the 200 yard Medley Relay which gave the Lady Eagles five first places finishes in the tri-meet.
Radford used a pair of first place finishes en route to a third place finish in the Yellow Jacket Invitational hosted by Randolph-Macon College on November 21-22. Sophomore Alexis Butner won the 400 yard IM with a time of 4:49.34. Freshman Alexa Sears brought home the 200 yard IM title after inching ahead of Arnie Mowery of Millersville University by six-tenths of a second.
FGCU had an outstanding performance at the Miami Invitational in Oxford, Ohio on December 4-6. They also pulled down CCSA swimmer and diver of the week honors. Leah Daniel was named the swimmer of the week after setting conference records in the 200 yard freestyle and the 500 free. The FGCU Eagles set a new school and conference record in the 800 yard freestyle relay with a mark of 7:26.31.
The FGCU Tri-Meet kicks off Saturday morning at the FGCU Aquatics Center on January 10th.
