Carla Mendez | Staff Writer
For their thirteenth consecutive season, the FIU swimming and diving team will compete in the NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships, beginning on Wednesday, March 20, 2024 in Athens, Georgia.
Entering the tournament, the Panthers bolster a 6-1 regular season record and emerged at the top of the American Athletic Conference Championships on Feb. 25, 2024. The team finished with a score of 778.5 on the final day of the tournament and were named conference champions with a first place finish.
In their most recent outing at the CSCAA National Invitational Championships on Saturday, March 16, they came out in seventh place with a total of 366.5 points. Despite the team’s overall score, the efforts of individual athletes helped FIU finish above multiple Power 5 programs.
Sophomore swimmer Emma Becker broke a tournament record in the 100 breast and finished with a time of 1:00.13. Her first place finish moved her to second all-time in total wins in the program’s history.
Heading into the NCAA Championships, the Panthers have two swimmers competing in the tournament. Senior swimmer Christie Chue and graduate student diver Paige Burrell were the selected players to represent the team and compete for a national championship.
Chue is set to compete in the 100 breaststroke and 2000 breaststroke competition and is among the top athletes in the nation at each event. She is nationally ranked 24th for the 100 breast and 20th in the 200 breast, with just an 8:04 difference between the two times.
Beyond her individual events, this season marks Chue’s third consecutive appearance in the NCAA Championships. In her most recent outing at the CSCAA National Invitational Championships, she finished in 35th out of 100 participants.
Burrell will compete in the 1-meter competition on Thursday and the 3-meter on Friday. This year marks the second year Burrell qualifies for the NCAA Championships.
The 2024 NCAA Women’s Swimming & Diving Championships starts on Wednesday, March 20 through to Saturday, March 23 at the University of Georgia’s Gabrielsen Natatorium.
FIU’s first event will be the 1-meter prelims at 12:15 p.m., followed by the consolation finals at 5:15 p.m. The finals, which mark the peak of the day’s competition, will begin at 6 p.m. The events are available for streaming on ESPN+
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