Fort Lauderdale, Fla. – Through the first of two days in the pool at the Ninth Annual Nova Southeastern Shark Invitational, Lynn University's swimming program sits in third place out of five teams with 295.5 points. Freshman Karolina Smylek brought home first place in the 200-yard backstroke.

INSIDE THE MEET:
Standings: 3^rd out of 5 teams
Location: NSU Aquatics Center | Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
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HOW IT HAPPENED:

• The invitational opened up with the 200-yard medley relay as Lynn logged a quick 32 points with the A-squad of Smylek, Sarah Hughes, Clara Monges and Laia Coma securing third place in 1:48.32.
• The Fighting Knights picked up 18 more points in the 200-yard medley as Anita filed, Grace Armit, Samar Khacha and Catalina Berraud-Galea clocked in a 1:155.89 for 10^th. Alyson Currao, Savanna Suggs, Susan Faremouth and Tatiana St. Juste touched the wall in 1:58.49.
• Hughes followed up with a strong performance in the 200-IM with a second-place finish (2:08.39).
• Smylek (2:13.54) and Khacha (2:15.74) each finished in the top-12 of the 200-IM with Suggs and Shelby McKeever also racing.
• Monges, a junior-transfer from Emmanuel College in her first event as a Fighting Knight, paced her squad in the 200-yard freestyle, finishing third with a time of 1:57.33. Veteran Berraud-Galea was right behind in fourth place (1:57.59).
• Junior Sarah Nichols made her season debut in the 200-free, taking 10^th in 2:00.14. Faremouth tacked on five points for Lynn with a 15^th-place finish (2:01.24).
• Also competing in the 200-free for Lynn was Armit (2:04.08), Aliah Maginley (2:08.98), Katie Tiell (2:10.33), Sydney Keefe (2:10.75) and Lauren McGee (2:16.70).
• Monges posted another team-best finish, securing 13^th place in the 50-free at 25.66. Nichols (26.10) and Currao (26.18) scored points for Lynn in the 50-free followed by St. Juste (26.92), Field (27.32), McGee (28.59) and Laia Coma (30.83).
• Khacha was the only Fighting Knight in the 200-fly, taking fifth place in 2:13.22
• Smylek was Lynn's lone victor on the day, finishing first place in the 200-back with a time of 2:07.21. Coma placed fifth in 2:11.13, followed by Field (2:16.77), Currao (2:22.33), St. Juste (2:23.93), Keefe (2:26.88) and McGee (2:34.15).
• Berraud-Galea nearly missed NCAA qualifying standards in the 500-free, placing second with a time of 5:07.25. Faremouth (5:23.76) and Maginley (5:45.50) both tacked on points for the Fighting Knights.
• Hughes notched another second-place finish, taking silver in the 200-breast (2:24.07). Armit (2:36.46), McKeever (2:42.30) and Suggs (2:45.22) all finished consecutively.
• Opening day wrapped up with the 400-free relay. Lynn's A-squad took fifth (Coma, Monges, Hughes, Berraud-Galea) in 3:39.51. Field, Khacha, Armit and Faremouth took 11^th with Currao, St. Juste, McGee and Maginley finishing in 4:02.23.

BEYOND THE SCORESHEET:

• Host NSU leads the pack with 522 points with West Florida in second (414 points). Florida Tech is not far behind Lynn with 224.5 points.
• Nine swimmers made their Blue and White debut.

UP NEXT:
The Fighting Knights return to the pool deck for the second and final day of the Shark Invite tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 6. First event is slated to fire off at 10 a.m.