The Rutgers swimming and diving team (9-2) hosted BIG EAST foes Georgetown, Villanova, and Seton Hall on Friday and Saturday at the RU Aquatic Center as the final home meet of the year. Rutgers came away with wins over Seton Hall (134-33) and Georgetown (287-66), but fell to Villanova, 179-173. The Scarlet Knights advance to 9-2 on the season and 2-1 in BIG EAST action.
“This was an exciting meet and great preparation for what to expect in two and a half weeks at the BIG EAST championship,” said head coach Phil Spiniello.
In the first swim of the afternoon, the Rutgers ‘A’ squad featuring Joanna Wu (Kent, Wash.), Chelsea Rolin (Saint-Lazare, QC, Canada), Sarah Coyne (Osceola, Ind.) and Mary Moser (Wyomissing, Pa.) grabbed the first win of the weekend with a 1:36.99 in the 200 free relay. The ‘B’ crew composed of Greta Leberfinger (Chatham, N.J.), Sophie Newton (Leesburg, Va.), Brittany Guinee (Berkeley Heights, N.J), and Lindsay Gibson-Brokop (Edmonton, AB, Canada) came in third under a Wildcat squad with a time of 1:40.33.
Former BIG EAST female swimmer of the week Wu kept the momentum going as she finished easily in first in the 200 free with a 1:51.71 time. Moser grabbed the fourth place spot with a 1:54.57 mark for the RU team. Coyne finished fifth with a 1:56.02 finish, and Rolin followed behind in ninth with a 2:01.10 touch.
The Scarlet Knights swept the top three spots in the 100 backstroke as Wu, Pfaff and Gibson-Brokop came in with times of 56.38, 58.21, and 59.77, respectively.
Leberfinger notched a third place finish in the 100 breaststroke (1:05.02) while Allyson Perrotti (Branford, Conn.) finished fourth with a 1:07.27 touch. Victoria Maqueda (Los Alamos, N.M.) finished fifth in the event with a 1:09.69 time.
RU was also well represented in the 200 butterfly as Guinee touched in with a 2:06.98 time. Senior captain Taylor Zafir (Wheaton, Ill.) touched in fourth at 2:09.10 while Newton followed right behind at 2:13.15. Junior Kara Millaci (Whitehouse Station, N.J.) finished the 200 fly with a time of 2:17.50.
In the 50 free finals, Moser grabbed a second place finish as she touched in at the 24.05 mark. Moser’s classmate Newton finished fourth with a 24.61 time while Coyne and Gibson-Brokop finished with times of 24.96 and 25.41, respectively.
In the 200 IM finals, Perrotti finished fourth (2:09.21), while Pfaff and Leberfinger finished with times of 2:10.14 and 2:11.25, good for sixth and seventh. Maqueda followed behind in 2:31.16.
Caroline Carlisle (Holly Springs, N.C.) finished the 1000 free finals in 10:37, good for fourth place. She was followed directly by Brogan Lee (Lindstrom, Minn.) who finished the event in 10:41.29.
The RU ‘A’ team featuring Wu, Leberfinger, Guinee and Moser finished the 400 Medley in second with a 3:51.27 mark. The ‘B’ crew comprised of Pfaff, Perrotti, Newton, and Coyne grabbed the four spot with a 4:01. The ‘C’ group with Gibson-Brokop, Maqueda, Millaci, and Rolin finished fifth (4:10.09).
Rutgers kicked off day two of swimming with another strong start as Wu, Leberfinger, Guinee, and Moser combined their top efforts to finish first in the 200 medley relay with a 1:45.98 time. Gibson-Brokop, Mauqeda, Newton, and Rolin joined forces to touch in fourth with a 1:51.28 mark.
Zafir, who was honored during a senior day ceremony, won the 400 IM (4:27.19) and was followed by Pfaff who finished third (4:31.32) and Lee who finished seventh (4:39.57). Perrotti followed just behind with a 4:39.78 touch.
In the 100 freestyle finals, Moser took the two-spot with a 52.00 touch, while Coyne, Newton and Rolin came in fifth (53.69), sixth (53.83) and seventh (54.67).
Wu stunned the pack in the 200 backstroke, as she finished first in 2:02.41. Teammate Pfaff was next to touch with a 2:08.15 mark, and Gibson-Brokop and Carlisle came in shortly after with 2:09.88 and 2:10.03 finishes, respectively.
The Scarlet Knights earned another top finish in the 100 butterfly as Guinee put up a 57.05 time. She was followed by Moser who touched third (57.13), and Newton (1:00.24) and Millaci (1:02.73).
Wu touched second in the 500 freestyle event with a 5:02.39 time, and was followed by senior Zafir who came in at 5:07.56, good for fifth place. Carlisle and Rolin hauled in times of 5:14.56 and 5:15.40.
In the 200 breaststroke, Leberfinger came in with a 2:20.98 finish, while Perrotti swam in at 2:24.18 and Maqueda finished at 2:40.06.
The 400 free relay, the victory-deciding event of the weekend, had the Rutgers teams finishing second (3:28.96) and third (3:38.87), finishing just over a second behind a Villanova squad.
In diving action, the Scarlet Knights grabbed the top two spots in the three-meter event as Nicole Honey (New Hyde Park, N.Y) finished six dives with a score of 317.00, and Nicole Scott (Toronto, Canada) finished just behind with a 313.60 mark. Olivia Harry (Rumson, N.J.) finished with a 207.75 score, good for fifth.
Honey and Scott kept their places in the one-meter event with Honey’s 288.15 being the top score of the day, and Scott’s 266.15 following behind in second. Harry finished with a 203.35 mark and senior captain Katie Kearney (Mahwah, N.J.) ended with a score of 202.95.
Villanova's men's swimming and diving came away with two BIG EAST victories this weekend, defeating Seton Hall 106.5-59.5 and Georgetown 181.5-174.5 in a conference tri-meet held at Rutgers. Senior Scott Thiede and junior Ben Smith each registered three individual wins.
Scott Thiede (Bethesda, Md.) finished on top in three events, including the 50 yard freestyle (21.44), 100 yard freestyle (47.78) and the 200 yard freestyle (1:45.18). Jason Moyer (Coopersburg, Pa.) notched second place in each of those events with times of 21.81, 47.78 and 1:46.81, respectively. The Wildcats swept the 200 yard freestyle event as Thiede took first, Moyer finished second and Russell Paulson (West Chester, Pa.) rounded out the sweep for third place, touching the wall at 1:47.68. Thiede also earned a third-place finish in the 500 yard freestyle with a time of 4:46.53.
Ben Smith (Sudbury, Mass.) again proved to be a dominant force in the butterfly events as he notched first place in the 100 yard butterfly (1:55.93) and 200 yard butterfly (52.12). Smith also recorded first in the 200 yard individual medley (1:58.86) and finished second in the 400 yard individual medley (4:14.33).
The meet was highlighted by several second-place finishes from Jordan Bickhart (Wyomissing, Pa.) in the 1000 yard freestyle (9:56.73), Braden Clarke (Chappaqua, N.Y.) in the 100 yard backstroke (53.23), Kyle Grant (Winnetka, Ill.) in the 200 yard backstroke (1:56.46) and Ryan Murtha (Philadelphia, Pa.) in the 100 yard breaststroke (1:01.19).
The Wildcats had strong performances in the four relay events throughout the weekend, posting first-place finishes in the 200 yard freestyle relay and the 400 yard freestyle relay. The 200 yard freestyle relay featured Braden Clarke, Scott Thiede, Kyle Grant and Jason Moyer who tipped the finish line at 1:26.83. In the 400 yard freestyle relay, the Villanova squad of Scott Thiede, Chris Tamanini (Kingston, Twp., Pa.), Kyle Grant and Jason Moyer came in at 3:10.12. The 200 yard medley relay (1:37.69) and the 400 yard medley relay (3:33.94) both finished second.
The meet marked Villanova's final regular season meet. The Wildcats are now gearing up for the BIG EAST Championships which will take place on Feb. 27-Mar. 2 in Indianapolis, Ind.. After this tri-meet, all members of the men's swim team have qualified for the conference championships.
Women's swimming and diving went 3-0 this weekend at a conference quad-meet held at Rutgers. The Wildcats defeated Georgetown 264-88, Seton Hall 122-44 and just slid by Rutgers 179-173. The weekend meet was highlighted by eight individual Wildcat winners and two relay victories.
Freshman Kaisla Kollanus (Hyvinkaa, Finland) and seniors Roxy Tammadge (Durban, South Africa) and Erin Malone (Sydney, Australia) each notched two individual wins throughout the weekend. Kollanus finished first in the 50 yard freestyle (23.89) and the 100 yard freestyle (51.84). She also recorded third place in the 200 yard freestyle with a time of 1:54.57. Tammadge found her wins in the 500 yard freestyle (4:55.98) and the 1000 yard freestyle (10:11.18). Teammates Summer Cook (Thornton, Colorado) and Leigh Anne Patterson (Cherry Hill, N.J.) finished second and third, respectively, behind Tammadge in the 1000 yard freestyle, giving Villanova a sweep in the event.
The Wildcats also took home the top places in the 200 individual medley as Erin Malone notched first (2:07.36), followed by Sara Jurek (Gilbert, Ariz.) (2:08.47) and Laura McGlaughlin (West Chester, Pa.) (2:08.87). Malone also finished on top in the 200 yard breaststroke at 2:16.49 and came in second in the 100 yard breaststroke at 1:04.63.
Once again, Villanova's senior class put up big performances. Laura McGlaughlin tabbed first place in the 100 yard breaststroke (1:04.34) and came in behind Erin Malone in the 200 yard breaststroke at 2:18.39. Hayley Edwards (Pilesgrove, N.J.) registered first place in the 200 yard butterfly (2:04.23) and came in second in the 100 yard butterfly (57.12). Leigh Anne Patterson notched two second-place finishes in the 400 yard individual medley (4:31.05) as well as the 200 yard butterfly (2:05.95).
The Wildcats not only had great performances in individual events, but made strong strides in the four relay events as well. Villanova's meet with Rutgers came down to the last relay where the Wildcats pulled ahead and earned the victory. This is the second time they were faced with that scenario in two weeks (also versus Pittsburgh on 1/26).
The squad of Mikah Schlesinger (Herzliya, Israel), Laura McGlaughlin, Hayley Edwards and Kaisla Kollanus finished second in the 200 yard medley relay (1:48.53) and notched a first-place victory in the 400 yard medley relay (3:51.15). Sara Jurek, Natalie Elphick (Durban, South Africa), Hayley Edwards and Kaisla Kollanus also recorded first place in the 400 yard freestyle relay at 3:27.95. Villanova also swam a second-place 200 yard freestyle relay that came in at 1:37.12.
The women finish their regular season with an 8-2 overall, including a first place title at the Frank Elm Invite, and a 4-0 record in BIG EAST action. Villanova looks to continue their success from the regular season as they prepare for the BIG EAST Championships on Feb. 27- Mar. 2 in Indianapolis, Ind..
