ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul women's swimming and diving team is set to open the new year at the FIU Sprint Invitational, hosted by Florida International University on Saturday at Doral Aquatic Center in Miami, Fla.
Action is set to begin at 9 a.m. CT with the meet incorporating tournament style competition of the 50's in all strokes.
Head coach, Rachel Busch on the meet and their winter training trip, "We are so excited to train and compete in Florida at the start of the year. We will be increasing the amount of practices while in Florida and also creating many lifetime memories as a team."
Busch added, "It will be our third year in a row competing at the FIU Sprint Invite and it's always fun to see competition we don't normally see throughout the season. It is also a very unique format with the 50s being in four rounds, narrowing the field from everyone, to the top eight, to the top four and finally a head-to-head showdown."
LAST TIME OUT
WildBear Invite: 1st of 5 Teams
The Golden Bears earned their highest invite score in program history with 1475.5 points to finish first at the WildBear Invite. The score set the school record and was the most points scored since 890.5 points were tallied at the Dragon Invite last season.
Sophie Leo led the charge with five first-place finishes between the three days, while setting school records and earning her first set of NCAA B-Cuts.
Claire Briest saw her best meet, finishing first in both the 200-yard breaststroke and the 100-yard breaststroke.
Chloe Jones led the divers with a first-place finish in the 3-meter dive, winning by a margin of 152.25 points.
As a team, Concordia notched a total of 56 top-five finishes during the invite, a program-high while also recording 16 first-place finishes.
SOPHIE SURGES AHEAD
Junior Sophie Leo has continued her star-studded season, leading the team with 14 wins and has collected three NSIC Swimmer of the Week accolades thus far.
Leo has cemented herself as a swimmer to watch at each meet and has her eyes set on success every time she jumps into the pool.
FIU SPRINT INVITE HISTORY
The Golden Bears made their first trip to the sunshine state during the 2023-24 season where they finished in sixth-place at the FIU Sprint Invite, led by 18 points from diver Caitlyn Greenwalt.
Last season, the Navy and Gold returned where they saw their highest placement, taking fourth with 10 top-10 finishes against a field composed almost entirely of NCAA Division I institutions.
