Melbourne, Fla. – The Florida Tech women's swimming team returned to the pool for Day Two of the eighth annual Panther Invite on Saturday at the Panther Aquatic Center with prelims in the morning and finals in the evening.
Heading into Sunday's finale, Tech remain in second place with 609 points, behind only Indian River State, who have 897.5 points. Florida Southern are third with 525 points, followed by St. Thomas in fourth with 450 points, Rollins in fifth at 444.5 and Barry in sixth with 74.
The morning action saw
Torie Whitbeck put up a new school record in the 100 Fly with a time of 57.00. The previous top mark of 57.09 was set by Kennedy Nolan at the 2020 Sunshine State Conference championships.
Katherine Helminiak earned her second individual win in as many days by taking the 200 Free A Final with a meet record time of 1:50.52. The previous record in the event was set in 2018 by Ester Rizzetto of West Florida.
Maja Malarz finished eighth in the A Final with a 1:57.46 finish, while
Brieleigh Wescott's 1:59.41 time won her the C Final.
In the 400 IM,
Kiera Ceely placed ninth in the A Final with a time of 4:40.41.
Alex Knodel nabbed second in the B Final with a 4:38.68 time with 0.40s off top spot.
The 100 Fly A Final saw a fifth place finish for Whitbeck (57.06) and eighth for
Debora Xavier (57.79). Mo Olhasso earned second in the B Final with a 57.81 finish that was only 0.04s from first, while Sam Bullard (57.98) and
Christina Ramirez (58.26) took third and fourth respectively.
Rae Ann Dressel took eighth in the 100 Breast A Final through her 1:05.63 time.
Ramirez (58.81) and Whitbeck (59.00) would earn fourth and fifth in the 100 Back A Final. Mo Olhasso was victorious in the A Final as her time of 59.90 was 0.13s ahead of second place.
The 200 Medley relay team of Ramirez, Dressel, Whitbeck and Xavier earned second in the A Final time of 1:44.42. That time breaks the previous school record of 1:45.35 set at the 2023 Sunshine State Conference Championships by Ramirez,
Shaelyn Rutta,
Nicole Rautemberg and
Harper Powell.
The top finishing Panther team in the 800 Free was the group of Malarz, Ceely, Olhasso and Helminiak who took eighth through a 1:35.18 finish.
UP NEXT: The Panther Invite concludes tomorrow starting with the prelims at 9:30 A.M., followed by the finals, which are slated to begin at 5:00 PM.
For the latest news, updates, and information on the Florida Tech men's swimming team, 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.
