Dear Swimmer:

We are glad that you are interested in Florida International University and the Golden Panthers intercollegiate Women's Swimming Team.

The FIU Women's Swimming Team will start its NCAA Division I competition in the Fall of 2003 at the newly renovated and improved FIU Aquatics Center overlooking the beautiful Bay located in the Biscayne Campus.

The FIU aquatic complex is a 50-meter, eight-lanes Olympic-size outdoor pool. We swim outdoors all year round due to the warm temperatures even in the middle of the winter months.

The FIU swim team will be competing in the Sun Belt Conference against programs from the University of Denver, Western Kentucky, New Mexico State, North Texas and University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

The goal of our program is to build a very competitive swimming team from the first season. The University wants a team that not only will go for the top honors in the conference championships, but will also qualify swimmers to the NCAA Championships in it's first year.

A high quality of coaching is assured by the expertise of the head coach Noemi Lung Zaharia. She is a two time Olympian, a Silver and Bronze Medallist at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games in the 400 and 200 IM, a World Record Holder in the 400IM, equaled the World Record in 400 freestyle, medalled in all major competitions such as World Championships, World University Games (voted MVP), Goodwill Games, European Championships, and NCAA Champion and Record Holder.

As the associate head coach at Florida Atlantic University, coach Zaharia has recruited, coached and qualified four swimmers to the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, an NCAA champion, along with numerous All-American swimmers. All the achievements in the pool came while the team maintained a grade point average above 3.0, which shows the emphasis coach Zaharia places on the educational aspect of each individual swimmer.

Please complete a Prospective Student-Athlete Information Form and submit it to the FIU Swimming office. If you have any questions please call us at 305-348-3169 or e-mail Coach Zaharia at zaharian@fiu.edu.

We are looking forward to have you as part of a new and competitive FIU swim team!