KEY LARGO, Fla. - Concordia-St. Paul swim and dive kicked off 2023 in the Sunshine State at the Orange Bowl Swim Classic on Tuesday morning. The event occurred outdoors at the Jacobs Aquatics Center with partly cloudy 78 degree weather.

Following the meet, Head Coach Rachel Busch stated: "The team swam well, especially coming off a long travel day and it was fun to compete against teams we haven't raced before." Busch added, "It's been a month since we raced, so the focus was to race and not to be too concerned about times, especially considering the meet was in meters instead of yards."

TEAM RESULTS
1. University of Findlay-675
2. Georgia Southern University-652
3. Western Colorado University-496.5
4. Trinity College-167.5
5. Concordia University, St. Paul-162
6. The College of the Florida Keys-10
 
RESULTS
Farida Maher finished with a pair of top-10 finishes and a team-best 32 points. The sophomore was the runner-up in the 400 meter freestyle with a time of 4:39.44 and finished eighth in the 100 meter freestyle with a time of 1:03.31.
 
Charly Horn claimed a pair of top-5 finishes and 29 points for CSP. The sophomore finished fourth in the 50 meter breaststroke with a time of 36.52 and fifth in the 100 meter breaststroke with a time of 1:20.34.
 
Chloe Rihon added a pair of top-10 finishes and 18 points for the Golden Bears. The freshman finished ninth in the 50 meter backstroke with a time of 34.32 and ninth in the 100 meter backstroke with a time of 1:12.86.
 
Sophomore Stephanie De Leon added a ninth-place finish in the 100 meter butterfly with a time of 1:14.01 and 16 points for the Golden Bears.
 
CSP had two teams compete in the 200 meter medley relay. Concordia's top-finishing team made up of Rihon, Horn, De Leon and Maher finished ninth overall with a time of 2:11.96. The Golden Bears other entered team comprised of Sydney Fleming, Laura Vekony, Emma Granovsky and Giulia Cury finished 16th with a time of 2:21.97.
 
The Golden Bears also had a pair of teams compete in the 200 meter freestyle relay. The top-finishing team of De Leon, Granovsky, Rihon and Maher finished in sixth place with a time of 1:59.27. The other team entered in the event made up of Fleming, Vekony, Horn and Cury finished fifteenth with a time of 2:06.62.
 
UP NEXT
The Golden Bears will return to action at the Minnesota State Moorhead Invitational on January 13-14 in Moorhead, Minn at Nemzek Pool. Starting times for the event are TBA and will be available on https://cspbears.com/sports/swimming-and-diving/schedule as soon they are announced.