The Rutgers swimming and diving team returned to the Sonny Werblin Recreation after nearly two months on the road and swept the visiting Fordham Rams (169.00-128.00) and Rider Broncs (211.00-79.00) Saturday afternoon. The Scarlet Knights won 11 of the 16 events on the day.
With the wins, Rutgers improves to 7-4-1 in dual-meet scoring competitions.
“You always want to come away with some wins and we came away with two today, which is great to add to our dual meet record,” said head coach Phil Spiniello. “We had some really good season times today, lowered some of our season times and have some momentum now going into the AAC Championship meet, which is the goal of these next three weeks. We want to gain some momentum and confidence in our races and dives and get ready to do what we need to do on February 19 when we head into Louisville [for the championship meet].”
Junior Greta Leberfinger (Chatham, N.J.) and sophomore Joanna Wu (Kent, Wash.) led the Scarlet Knights with two individual event wins each and were also members of the first-place 200 medley relay team.
Seniors Mary Moser (Wyomissing, Pa.) and Nicole Scott (Toronto, Canada) also picked up two individual wins.
Wu captured first in both the 100 back (56.15) and 200 back (2:03.97), while Leberfinger was victorious in the 100 and 200 breaststroke events.
Moser picked up wins in both the 50 and 200 free and Scott led the way on the boards, sweeping the 1-meter and 3-meter with scores of 263.70 and 302.00, respectively.
The Scarlet Knights began the day with a one-two finish in the 200 yard medley relay. Wu, Leberfinger, senior Brittany Guinee (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) and sophomore Julia Kudryashova (New Providence, N.J.) teamed up for a first-place time of 1:48.10, while sophomore Morgan Pfaff (Red Lion, Pa.), freshman Rachel Stoddard (Hillsborough, N.J.), sophomore Sophie Newton (Leesburg, Va.) and junior Lindsay Gibson-Brokop (Edmonton, AB, Canada) followed up at 1:48.58.
RU dominated the 100 breaststroke event, as the hosts captured the top three spots, with Leberfinger in first, followed by Stoddard in second and senior Allyson Perrotti (Branford, Conn.) in third. Leberfinger and Stoddard would also finish one-two in the 200 breast, with times of 2:21.61 and 2:23.56, respectively.
Guinee recorded a first-place finish in the 200 fly at 2:04.91, with Pfaff finishing third. Pfaff captured her own first-place finish in the 400 I.M. (4:27.46), while Guinee added a second-place finish in the 500 free.
Rutgers closes out the 2013-14 regular season on Saturday, Feb. 8 as the team hosts a tri-meet with Georgetown and Providence. The meet also marks Senior Day for the Scarlet Knights.
