Jan. 8, 2010

Two victories by freshman swimmer Eszter Bucz highlighted the Florida Atlantic University women's swim team's effort against nationally ranked Louisiana State University on Friday at the FAU Aquatic Center.

The Owls suffered a 129-71 loss in the dual meet with the visiting Southeastern Conference opponent.

Bucz led wire-to-wire to win the 1,000-yard freestyle by a dazzling 11 seconds, with a time of 10:20.65. She also had a dominating victory in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:08.22), edging out teammate Ewa Jamborska at the finish line.

"I did better than I thought after being pretty tired from a hard morning practice," the Budapest, Hungary native, said after the meet. "Everybody swam well today considering the tough week of practice. This team performance will give us confidence going forward for the rest of the season."

This was the first time that Bucz had competed in the 1,000-yard freestyle event since October 31.

Sophomore Erin Hersey placed second in the 100-yard butterfly (59.35 seconds) and also swam the second leg of FAU's winning 200-yard freestyle relay team. Joining her on the relay team were Elizabeth Starke, Arielle Newnam and Emilienne Allen.

Sophomore Jonna Nyback recorded a second-place showing in the 100-yard freestyle event (53.05) to cap off the individual honors.

Bucz and Jamborska were among Owls' swimmers to take home the top six spots in the 100-yard breaststroke event.

FAU returns to the pool on Saturday to battle rival Florida International University at the FAU Aquatic Center. The meet is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. The Owls will look for their third victory this season over the Panthers.

******************************************* (Men's recap)

Despite posting 13 top-three finishes, the Florida Atlantic University men's swimming team dropped a dual meet with nationally ranked Louisiana State University 126.5-73.5 on Friday at the FAU Aquatic Center.

The Owls captured victories in the 200-yard individual medley, 100-yard breaststroke and 200-yard freestyle events, while having the top three finishers in the men's 100-yard breaststroke event.

Sophomore Csaba Pek led the 200-yard individual medley event from the time he entered the pool and won the event by over a second, with a time of 1:55.46. The Budapest, Hungary native recorded a time of 1:55.46.

"After leading the backstroke portion of the race, I knew it was going to be hard for the other competitors to catch me," stated the Budapest, Hungary native after the race. "I didn't have a good practice session in the breaststroke. Looking back, I can improve in that aspect of the race to become stronger in future meets."

Pek also garnered a runner-up finish in the 500-yard freestyle event (4:41.02). Freshman Alan Forbes edged out teammate Adam Corbin by a fraction of a second for the top spot in the 100-yard breaststroke, winning with a time of 1:00.33.

Freshman Alex Rodriguez came in third place to round out the impressive showing for the Owls in the event.

FAU also made it a clean sweep in the 200-yard freestyle relay, with the team of Mikolaj Czarnecki, Jonathan Van Zee, Andrew Walsh and Eric Williams winning the event by three seconds.

Czarnecki earned a third-place showing in the 100-yard butterfly (52.40) while Corbin finished third in the 200-yard individual medley (1:56.60).

FAU will return to the pool on January 16 against in-state rival the University of Florida in Gainesville.