Football coach reveals first recruiting class

On Feb. 7, Football Head Coach Mario Cristobal’s first recruiting class was revealed to consist of 18 student-athletes, including 14 from the state of Florida – eight from South Florida – and four from outside the Sunshine State. The class reflects an emphasis on offensive players.

“We have all the confidence in the world that these guys are not only going to be great players, but also great leaders, great students and they will represent [FIU] in a big-time way,” Cristobal said. “I can’t wait until they step foot on campus.”

While this recruiting class has more commitments from outside of Florida than any other in the history of the program, Cristobal and his staff achieved their goal of keeping some of South Florida’s best players at home.

“We chose to attack South Florida, like we should,” he said. “This is our home state and there are plenty of great football players here.”

The coach and his staff had roughly three weeks to hit the recruiting trail and ended up signing potentially the best recruiting class in FIU history. He and his staff were looking for student-athletes with high character and great athletic ability and who could make an immediate impact.

“We came in with a goal and a mindset to compete at the highest level,” Cristobal said. “It doesn’t matter what conference or what team was recruiting a specific player. We’re not backing down and we’re not shying away. We took that approach and it has paid off. We won a lot of those battles and those results will show themselves in the coming years.”

Women’s soccer scores new coach

Thomas Chestnutt Jr. was named head women’s soccer coach on Feb. 10. The former Fresno State assistant is the second head coach in FIU women’s soccer history. Chestnutt comes to FIU from Fresno State, where he served as the first assistant since 2004. Fresno State saw drastic improvements in its women’s soccer program during his tenure, including trips to the NCAA Tournament, bolstered recruiting and academic success and conference titles.

“I am thrilled about the opportunity to lead the FIU women’s soccer program,” Chestnutt said. “FIU Athletics is heading into a new era and I am looking forward to leading this program to a greater level of success.”

Chestnutt spent the last six years with the University of Florida and Fresno State women’s programs and has played a major role in the ability of those programs to recruit at a high level and earn NCAA Tournament berths.

“We feel very excited and fortunate to be able to hire someone with the background and experience of Thomas Chestnutt to lead our women’s soccer program,” FIU Athletic Director Pete Garcia said.

Golden Panthers swim & dive victorious

Junior diver Lindsay Lowell was named the Sun Belt Conference Women’s Diver of the Year on Feb. 17 after winning the women’s three-meter competition and placing second in the one-meter event at the SBC Swimming and Diving Championships. Lowell won the three -meter competition on Feb. 16 with a score of 270.20 after placing second in the one-meter competition on the day before. Her performances were complemented by several other Golden Panthers to help the team to a fifth-place finish with 278 points in the three-day event.

Senior Zita Zalai broke her own SBC Championship record in the 100-yard fly to take home her fourth-consecutive Sun Belt title in the event. If there is such a thing as an individual dynasty, Zalai embodied it in the 100 fly, winning two titles while at Louisiana-Monroe before transferring to FIU to win two more. She also broke her own SBC Championship record with a time of 55.84.

Sophomore Sara Giovannoni used an outstanding individual effort to post three second-place finishes at the meet. She bested her own school record in the finals of the 200 IM, touching the wall in 2:04.81. She came in second in the 100 breaststroke in 1:04.34 and replicated that finish with a time of 2:16.84 in the 200 breaststroke.