LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The FGCU swim team is returning to Southwest Florida with three wins after sweeping the Bellarmine Duals. The Eagles outgained the host Knights, 238-76, while also beating fellow CCSA member Gardner-Webb, 204-109, and Southern Indiana, 265-49.
“Very happy to be coming home with a few wins under our belt,” said the coach Dave Rollins. “It was great to be able to go on the road and compete. We got to see our younger Eagles compete for the first time and for them to get their first wins as the Eagles are huge for our program while we moving forward in the season. We did a great job with our race strategies this weekend and will continue to refine the details. Excited for what’s to come!”
Saturday morning’s session started the same way most of Friday did – with an Eagle win. The 400 medley relay team Lucia Sulenta (Zagreb, Croatia), Jenna Gwinn (Baltimore, Md.), Cameron Kuriger (Columbus, Ohio) and Hailey Jerew (Miami, Fla.) touched first with a time of 3:55.10, the only team under four minutes.
Emma Hixenbaugh (Louisville, Ky.) earned her second individual victory of the weekend in her hometown by winning the 200 back with a time of 2:05.61. With the win, she completed the backstroke sweep after touching first in the 100 on Friday. initial Mia Burke (Owings Mills, Md.) also continued her solid first weekend by finishing second with a time of 2:07.04.
Gwinn kept the Eagles in the win column by taking home the 100 breast with a time of 1:06.58. Emma Bjoernholdt (Bagsvaerd, Denmark) finished third in 1:08.53.
after Sara Niepelova (Piestany, Slovakia) touched third in the 500 free, Burke earned FGCU’s fourth win of the day by winning the 100 free with a time of 53.74 while Dani D’Ambrosio (Hillsborough, NJ) touched third in 53.96.
Kuriger followed that up by winning her fourth event in her debut weekend, taking home the 200 fly with a time of 2:09.34.
In the 400 IM, Bjornholdt and Niepelova finished second and third with times of 4:41.66 and 4:45.26, respectively.
The Eagles finished the meet with a second-place finish in the 200 free relay as Sulenta, Burke, Zuzanna Rabiniak (Radom, Poland) and Jerew finished with a time of 1:38.82.
FGCU will return to the pool in a few weeks when the Eagles travel to Columbia, South Carolina to compete in the Gamecock Invite (Nov. 16-18). That same week, the divers will make their season debut at the Tennessee Diving Invite (Nov. 17-19) in Knoxville.
Eagles in 2022-23 CCSA Top-10
200 Back
Emma Hixenbaugh – 2:05.61, 5th
100 Gulf
Jenna Gwinn – 1:06.58, 8th
400 MY
Emma Bjornholdt – 4:41.66, 9thth
400 medley relay
3:55.10, 6th
200 Free relays
1:38.82, 7
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CHAIRMAN DAVE ROLLINS
The head coach Dave Rollins is just the second head coach in program history. He was hired on September 1, 2016 and owns a 38-26-1 (.592) dual meet record, which includes a 16-2 (.889) mark against CCSA opponents, in his seventh season. Rollins led FGCU to back-to-back CCSA titles (2017, 2018), marking its ninth championship in 10 years before winning the 10th championship in program history in 2021. In addition, he has been named the CCSA Coach of the Year in two of his seasons in charge. Previously, Rollins was the head men’s swimming coach at Ohio State University. Rollins brings over a decade of coaching experience to The Nest, which includes helping develop Olympians, NCAA champions and All-Americans, along with numerous conference champions. A native of Brockton, Mass., he was a standout collegiate swimmer in his own right and was inducted into the University of Arizona Hall of Fame in 2017 as a nine-time NCAA All-American, national champion, school and team record holder. captain.
EAGLE CAMPAIGN
IT TAKES A TEAM to achieve our newest goal – a $10 million campaign to address student-athlete needs in continued academic success, life skills, mental health, nutrition and strength and conditioning, as well as departmental needs in facility expansion and improvement, as well as mentoring and leadership training for coaches and staff. The name embodies our mission and the goal of the EAGLE Campaign – Eagle Athletics Generating Lifetime Excellence. Join our team and pledge your gift today to help the Eagles of tomorrow!
#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), the chosen charities of FGCU Athletics. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and use the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.
ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 92 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 15 seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 11 seasons of DI postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a total of 45 teams or individuals competing in the NCAA Championships. In 2022, the men’s golf team became the first program to win an at-large NCAA Tournament berth. Eight FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport — including women’s basketball (No. 20, 2021-22), beach volleyball (No. 20, 2022) and men’s soccer (2018, 2019) and women’s football (2018) as the four most recent. In 2016-17, the Green and Blue posted a department-best sixth in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors’ Cup and top 100 nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and Florida State’s top seven teams earn the NCAA Public Recognition Award for their rate of academic progress in their sport. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.50 classroom GPA in the fall 2020 semester and has surpassed the university’s overall undergraduate population for 26 consecutive semesters. The past five semesters (Fall 2019 – Spring 2022) saw another milestone as all 15 programs achieved a cumulative team GPA of 3.0 or higher. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 – being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.
