Swimming and Diving | 1/24/2025 10:13:00 PM

FORT PIERCE, Fla. — The Ave Maria swim team raced in their final dual meet of the regular season Friday afternoon. Both the men's and women's teams lost to the Indian River State College Pioneers, falling 213-42 on the men's side and 206-54 on the women's side. However, the Gyrenes came home with a few top three finishes and are primed for the conference tournament.

The women's swim team fared a little bit better, with five top three finishes including one win.

Gabby Darakchieva had the lone first place finish for the Gyrenes, winning the 100 yard backstroke with a time of 1:00.21. Darakchieva finished over two seconds faster than anybody else in the pool, with second place clocking in at 1:02.42.

The Gyrene women had three more solo third place finishes and one relay third place finish. The solo finishes were from Maddie Lasnoski in the 100 yard breaststroke, Maryanna Matista in the 200 yard butterfly and Darakchieva again in the 200 yard backstroke.

The relay third place finish for Ave Maria was in the 200 yard medley relay, with the Ave Maria A team touching the pad at 1:52.49.

The Gyrene women also had three personal bests, with Maeve O'Brien hitting 2:06.99 in the 200 yard freestyle, Anna Szucz hitting 31.80 in the 50 yard backstroke, and Lasnoksi hitting 27.09 in the 50 yard freestyle.

On the men's side, Ave Maria had three more top three finishes, all at third place. The finishes were Sam Pilkington in the 100 yard breaststroke, Thomas Austin in the 1000 yard freestyle, and Justin Bond in the 200 yard butterfly.

All Ave Maria relay teams finished outside the top three.

The Gyrene men had eight season bests and one personal best. The personal best went to Christian Steele hitting 2:11.72 in the 200 yard butterfly.

Friday's dual meet wraps up the regular season for the Gyrenes. Now Ave Maria transitions into postseason play.

The Gyrenes will compete in the Sun Conference Tournament Thursday, February 6, through Saturday, February 8, in Ocala, Florida. Last season, both the men's and women's team finished fifth out of nine teams in the Sun Conference and set 64 personal records. The Gyrenes look to improve on that performance in this season.