Complete Results 

FIU’s swimming and diving team had 15 lifetime bests, 19 season bests and broke three school records at the Sun Belt Conference Championships on Feb. 18-21 at Nashville, Tenn.

“I’m very proud of the results that the girls posted at conference,” FIU head coach Noemi Zaharia said.  “All the hard work they’ve done in preparation for the championship paid off.  Some of them missed a lifetime best by a few tenths so we could have had even more.” 

Senior Sara Giovannoni broke the school record that she set at the Houston Invitational this season in the 400 IM with a time of 4:26.85.  The 800 freestyle relay team of Elly James, Nicola MacKenzie, Kariann Stevens and Regina Mayer set a new record with a time of 7:50.75.

Sophomore Danielle Sneir broke the FIU record in the 200 backstroke earlier this season.  In the preliminary rounds of the event at the SBC, she broke her own record and then in the finals broke it again with a time of 2:05.73. 

Freshman diver Namiko Shibata placed third in three meter diving and fourth in the one meter dive.  She already qualified for the NCAA Zone Diving Championships in Knoxville, Tenn. on March 13 after qualifying earlier this season in three meter diving.

The Golden Panthers placed sixth as a team while WKU captured the women’s title.

“We are very proud of them with the way they represented FIU,” Zaharia said.  “The team spirit was there as they cheered for each other in every race.  We overcame some major injuries and were able to produce great results.”

For complete coverage of the 2009 Sun Belt Conference Swimming and Diving Championships please visit SunBeltSports.org.

Lifetime Bests (15)

Penny Baxter – 200 Backstroke

Caroline Foster – 100 Backstroke

Sara Giovannoni – 400 IM

Nicola MacKenzie – 500 Freestyle

Regina Mayer – 1650 Freestyle

Regina Mayer – 500 Freestyle

Colleen Neubert – 50 Freestyle

Joanna Pomerantz – 500 Freestyle

Joanna Pomerantz – 1650 Freestyle

Danielle Sneir – 100 Backstroke

Danielle Sneir – 200 Backstroke

Danielle Sneir – 200 Backstroke (Finals)

Meredith Tisch – 50 Freestyle

Meredith Tisch – 200 Freestyle

Vicnan Torres - 100 Freestyle

Season Bests (19)

Penny Baxter – 100 Breaststroke

Penny Baxter – 200 IM

Sara Giovannoni – 100 Breaststroke (Relay)

Elly James – 200 IM

Elly James – 100 Freestyle (Relay)

Elly James – 200 Backstroke

Chrisna Luus – 50 Freestyle

Chrisna Luus – 200 Freestyle

Nicola MacKenzie – 1650 Freestyle

Regina Mayer – 400 IM

Colleen Neubert – 100 Backstroke

Erin Pavlick – 100 Backstroke

Erin Pavlick – 100 Breaststroke

Joanna Pomerantz – 200 Backstroke

Danielle Sneir – 100 Backstroke

Danielle Sneir – 200 IM

Kariann Stevens – 50 Freestyle

Kariann Stevens – 100 Butterfly

Kariann Stevens - 100 Freestyle (Relay)

(Relay) – Denotes event record occurred during a relay event.