The Rutgers swimming and diving team finished its two-day quad meet against Georgetown, Seton Hall and Villanova Saturday morning at the RU Aquatics Center. The Scarlet Knights captured convincing victories over the Pirates (274-79) and Hoyas (156-97), but lost to the Wildcats, 198-153.
“Today was a little more mixed, but we still had some impressive results,” said head coach Petra Martin. “For us, we now have to make sure that our second days can be just as strong as our first ones. A lot of them are trying to figure out what they need to do better, so we’re going to take this experience and bring it into the next couple of weeks.”
After breaking the program’s 3-meter dive record the night before, sophomore diver Addison Walkowiak (Ballston Spa, N.Y.) continued to shine off the boards during day two of action. Walkowiak secured the 1-meter dive title with a score of 303.25, just over three points shy of her personal best and program record 306.90 set last season.
Junior Alyssa Black (Middletown, N.Y.) also secured an impressive mark of 294.55 for second place, while freshman Rachel Byrne (Bedford, N.H.) finished third with a score of 245.05 to help the Scarlet Knights sweep the top three positons in the event.
In the pool, RU started off fast, securing a win in the 200 medley relay. Seniors Morgan Pfaff (Red Lion, Pa.) and Joanna Wu (Kent, Wash.) along with juniors Meghan Kiely (Mountain Lakes, N.J.) and Rachel Stoddard (Hillsborough, N.J.) hit the wall first with a time of 1:44.18 to secure top honors.
Rutgers also shed more than two seconds off its best time of the season in the 400 freestyle relay, as Wu, Kiely, senior Sarah Coyne (Osceola, Ind.) and freshman Cynthia Wu (Princeton, N.J.) produced a second-place mark of 3:28.08.
Individually, Stoddard finished first in the 200 breast with a time of 2:20.76, more than two seconds ahead of the next best time. In total, the Scarlet Knights secured three top-three finishes during the second leg of action.
Rutgers returns to the pool Friday, Nov. 20, when the Scarlet Knights host the Frank Elm Invitational at the RU Aquatics Center. The invite will also take place on Saturday, Nov. 21, and Sunday, Nov. 22.
