Rutgers hosted Georgetown, Seton Hall and Villanova on Saturday afternoon.
Rutgers Press Release
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (Nov. 5, 2016) – Rutgers swimming and diving concluded its quad meet with Georgetown, Seton Hall and Villanova Saturday afternoon, collecting six individual titles at the RU Aquatics Center during the second day of action.
In total, the Scarlet Knights had 10 event victories during the two-day event. As a team, RU defeated the Hoyas (233-119) and Pirates (269-77), while falling just short against the Wildcats, 183.50-168.50.
“We had solid two days of racing and saw some commanding performances on both sides of the pool,” said head coach Petra Martin. “Overall we had a good weekend as a group. We were able to get a better idea on third events for a few athletes and saw some things that we need to improve on when it comes to racing strategies. But we also saw great energy and grit from the group. We worked well together as a unit this weekend.”
For the second time in as many days, Rutgers swept the diving portion of the meet, as the Scarlet Knights finished one-two-three in the 1-meter dive. Senior Alyssa Black placed first with a score of 314, followed by junior Addison Walkowiak at 312.80. Sophomore Rachel Byrne was third with a mark of 294.50. On Friday, RU also swept the 3-meter diving event, as Walkowiak collected top honors in the event.
Senior Rachel Stoddard and sophomore Francesca Stoppa each had two individual wins. Stoddard recorded top times in the 100 breaststroke (1:04.27) and 200 breaststroke (2:18.70), bringing her win total to three on the weekend after she won the 200 IM on Friday. Stoppa hit the wall first in both the 100 butterfly (56.01) and the 200 butterfly (2:01.84).
“On the swimming side, the swim that stood out the most was from Rachel Stoddard in 200 IM,” Martin said. “She is getting a lot better in all of the four strokes and her racing in the IM certainly showed it. She was only 0.6 sec of her best time from Big Ten’s last year which is very good at this time of the year. On the boards, Addy Walkowiak was able to show of her new dive and she hit it right on.”
Rookie Alexandra Fabugais-Inaba was the other Scarlet Knight to finish first Saturday with her top time of 1:53.08 in the 200 freestyle. It was her second individual win of the weekend as the Oakville, Ontario, Canada, native recorded a top mark in the 500 freestyle Friday night.
Other notable individual performances included sophomore Cynthia Wu’s second-place time of 4:33.41 in the 400 IM and sophomore Vera Koprivova’s second-place result of 2:02.68 in the 200 backstroke. Wu and freshman Meghan Moses also finished third in the 200 freestyle (1:54.49) and the 100 freestyle (53.56), respectively.
In relay action, Wu, Fabugais-Inaba, Moses and freshman Sarah Davis hit the wall second with a time of 3:29.21. Rutgers closed out the meet with a second-place time of 1:45.67 from Koprivova, Stoddard, Stoppa and freshman Vanessa Ruiz in the 200 medley relay.
RU splits up in its next few meets. Stoddard and Stoppa will represent the Scarlet Knights Nov. 12-13 at the B1G versus USA National Team College Classic in Indianapolis, Indiana. The divers will compete at the V-Tech Cup Nov. 17-19 in Christiansburg, Virginia. The swimmers will host the Frank Elm Invitational Nov. 18-20 at the RU Aquatics Center.
“I would like to also say thanks to all of our fans that came and supported us this weekend,” Martin said. “It certainly makes a difference to have a crowd behind us. Special thanks to all the young swimmers from Bold Academy that came to watch the meet on Friday night. Tt was fun for our team to interact with the children afterwards as well as have them cheer for us during the meet!”
