Miami’s women’s swimming and diving team was defeated for the second consecutive year Saturday against Florida Gulf Coast University. The team lost 194-104, despite strong showings from some younger swimmers and divers.
Sophomore Cameron Davis was once again a top contributor, as she also racked up points for the team in its first two competitions of the season.
“Davis certainly led the way on the swimming end,” said Head Coach Andy Kershaw. “She swam the races exactly like we talked about and like we’ve been working on. I was very proud of that.”
Davis impressed at the meet, finishing in first place in both the 1000-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle. She defeated FGCU’s second place finisher, Nina Schiffer, by over five seconds with her time of 10:14.71.
In her 500-yard win, she also got the best of Schiffer, this time winning by less than two seconds with a time of 5:01.95.
Davis also came in sixth place in the 200-yard butterfly (2:15.84), and swam in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Freshman diver Wally Layland, whose father is a University of Miami Hall of Fame diver, was also a key contributor to the meet, which happened to be her first.
“This was her first chance to represent the U, and she made us very proud,” Kershaw said.
She was awarded first place in both the one-meter and the three-meter competition with scores of 289.35 in the one-meter, and a staggering 314.85 in the three-meter. Other notable performances came from freshman Julie Suarez and junior team captain My Fridell.
Suarez stole first in the 200 freestyle and came in third in the 200 backstroke, with scores of 1:54.16 and 2:08.72.
Kershaw said of Suarez, “It’s great to get that kind of contribution from a freshman.”
Fridell took first in the 100 butterfly, her signature stroke, with a time of 56.14.
“We always know we can count on Fridell to get to the wall when the 100 fly comes around,” coach Kershaw said.
Miami has almost two weeks to regroup from this loss before their next dual matchup and first home meet, scheduled for Nov. 8 versus Illinois State.