The Rutgers swimming and diving team opened its two-day quad meet against Georgetown, Seton Hall and Villanova Friday night at the RU Aquatics Center. The Scarlet Knights hold commanding leads over the Pirates (148-38) and Hoyas (135-51) and trail the Wildcats by just 13 points, 99-86, heading into day two of action.
“It was a solid night for us. I thought there were a lot of close races, but we put our heads down and competed,” said head coach Petra Martin. “We had some great times for this part of the year and now we need to recover and go into tomorrow attacking.”
Sophomore diver Addison Walkowiak (Ballston Spa, N.Y.) shined for RU off the boards, breaking the school record in the 3-meter dive. Walkowiak produced a score of 348.55, surpassing Nicole Scott’s mark of 342.95 set in 2014. The score is more than 10 points higher than her personal best total of 337.51, and represents her second school record.
“It was a great performance. She dove great,” said head diving coach Fred Woodruff. “Addy entered the meet after taking some time off due to injury, so we nursed her back to get back on the boards. With her, it seemed like the time off actually made her better. It was one of the best performances I’ve ever seen.”
In the pool, Rutgers secured both relay events. Seniors Sarah Coyne (Osceola, Ind.), Joanna Wu (Kent, Wash.) and Sophie Newton (Leesburg, Va.) along with freshman Meghan Kiely (Mountain Lakes, N.J.) hit the wall first with a season-best time of 1:35.30 in the 200 freestyle relay, while Wu, Coyne, senior Morgan Pfaff (Red Lion, Pa.) and junior Rachel Stoddard (Hillsborough, N.J.) registered a first-place time of 3:48.01.
Wu impressed individually, collecting two season-best marks. Wu won the 100 back with a time of 55.28 and secured a second-place finish with a time of 23.65 in the 50 free.
Stoddard also added two program top times for the season, finishing first in the 100 breast with a mark of 1:03.24. Stoddard also secured a 2:05.09 in the 200 individual medley, good for second.
Pfaff set a personal best for the season in the 200 butterfly, shedding nearly a second off her previous time with a second-place mark of 2:04.73.
Rutgers closes out the quad meet Saturday morning beginning at 10:00 a.m. Tomorrows events consist of the 200 medley relay, 400 individual medley, 100 freestyle, 200 back, 100 butterfly, 500 freestyle, 200 breast, 400 freestyle relay and 1-meter dive.
