MELBOURNE, Fla. – The swimming teams continued the 2021-22 season this past weekend at the Panther Aquatic Center by welcoming Florida Southern, Lynn and Rollins for the 2021 Panther Invite.
Day One
Across the evening's finals, the women earned an individual victory, an individual second place finish and one in relays. Harper Powell won the 50 Free B Final with a time of 24.58.
The 200 medley relay squad of Rylee Nepple, Shaelyn Rutta, Kennedy Nolan and Nicole Rautemberg placed second thanks to a finish of 1:36.67.
On the day the women were led by Savannah Brennan, who broke her own school record in the 500 free twice. Brennan won the prelim race with a time of 4:56.06, then came in second in the final with a finish of 4:55.88. Brennan is now the holder of six individual school records as well as being a member of four school record relay teams.
Day Two
During the finals session in the evening, the Panther women earned two individual victories and three top three finishes. Brennan was tops in the 400 IM with a time of 4:22.41, while Rautemberg won the 200 free with a finish of 1:53.17.
The relay teams earned two top three finishes with the 200 medley group of Gabi Karosas, Rutta, Rautemberg and Nolan taking third thanks to a time of 1:47.14 and the 800 free team of Brennan, Kate Helminiak, Nolan and Rautemberg earning second with a time of 7:36.91.
Day Three
Sunday saw the Panther women tally two top three finishes.
For the second time this weekend, Brennan broke her own school record twice in the same day, this time in the 200 breast. She swam 2:19.38 in the prelims and then broke that by two full seconds with a time of 2:17.16.
The team of Brennan, Rutta, Nolan and Rautemberg grabbed third in the 400 free relay with a time of 3:31.67.
Coaches Corner
"Our women were lights out when we only had 19 women scoring this weekend, so just the fact that they're able to compete with Rollins and Lynn and Florida Southern who have probably double the amount of swimmers that we had was a really good sign of where we're at in our season.
Savannah was breaking records left and right and our women's relays are really close to qualifying for NCAAs and we've never had a women's relay qualify. So I mean, we're really excited about that and we're hoping we can achieve that goal at conference.
Daniel and Savannah, they're faster than they were at this point in previous years and they qualified with those times before and so the fact that they're where they're at now is a good sign that they'll qualify. We haven't had a relay at NCAA since 2019. And that was just men ,we've never had women at the at the national championship. So if we can achieve that and actually take a couple relays again, that'd be a really good sign for our team in the future."
Women's Final Results
1. Rollins – 1,293
2. Florida Southern – 1,271
3. Lynn – 868
4. Florida Tech - 741
The Panthers will return to action on Saturday December 18th at 1 P.M. at Lynn.
For the latest news, updates, and information on the Florida Tech cross country teams, visit FloridaTechSports.com. Fans can also stay up to date on the latest Panthers news by following Florida Tech Athletics on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
