After seven days of competition at the 2014 Caribbean Islands Swimming Championships, four from the FGCU swimming and diving team collected a total 12 medals in the biannual event, which ran July 1-7 at the Aquatic Centre of Barbados.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very excited to see our girls do so well on a global stage and qualify for another major international meet,\u201d head coach\u00a0Neal Studd\u00a0said. \u201cFGCU is now the dominant force in Caribbean swimming. I am looking forward to translating this success into the upcoming season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Junior-to-be\u00a0Lani Cabrera (Barbados\/St. Ursala’s Secondary School)\u00a0led the charge taking home two gold medals and one bronze for the host nation. The distance specialist touched first to finish the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 2:07.70, before winning the 400-yard race with a 4:30.07. Cabrera returned to the awards podium placing third in the 100 freestyle with a 1:00.77.<\/p>\n
Joining her teammate in the winner\u2019s circle was rising-sophomore\u00a0Evita Leter (Paramaribo, Suriname\/St. Brendan\u2019s)\u00a0placing first in the 50-yard breaststroke with a time of 33.07 seconds. Leter also racked up a trio of silver medals for Suriname, touching second in the 100 breaststroke (1:13.42), the 200 IM (2:28.67) and the 200 breaststroke (2:47.94).<\/p>\n
Turning in a trio of outstanding performances was upcoming-senior\u00a0Karen Vilorio (Tegucigalpa, Honduras\/Elvel School), racing as a guest in the championship meet. Vilorio paced the field leading the 100 backstroke (1:05.77), the 200 backstroke (2:21.09) and the 400 IM (5:05.44), in addition to touching second in the 200 IM (2:26.01) and third in the 50 backstroke (30.91).<\/p>\n
While she has yet to race for the Green and Blue, incoming freshman\u00a0Kristen Julien\u00a0of Trinidad and Tobago contributed to the success of FGCU posting three meet records and earning five medals in the 15-17 age bracket. Julien recorded the fastest times in meet history to place first in the 50 backstroke (29.81), the 100 backstroke (1:05.22) and the 50 butterfly (28.92). The rookie also won the 200 backstroke with a 2:27.11 and placed second in the 50 freestyle with a 27.88.<\/p>\n
The winning performances by the four aforementioned Eagles earned each member of the quartet an invitation to the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games held November 14-30 in Veracruz, Mexico.<\/p>\n