Rutgers Press Release
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (Jan. 28, 2017) – Rutgers swimming and diving closed out its home dual campaign on Saturday with a 190-103 victory over Richmond on Senior Day at the RU Aquatics Center. The Scarlet Knights delivered 13 event titles, while junior Addison Walkowiak broke program records in both the 1- and 3-meter dives to help secure the team win.
Prior to the meet, RU honored its five graduating seniors – Chantal Asselin, Alyssa Black, Barbra Brottman, Meghan Kiely and Rachel Stoddard – for their contributions to the program.
“They were great,” said head coach Petra Martin of the seniors. “We really enjoyed today. [The seniors] stepped up and did the right things for the team as they have been for the past four years. It was just a special day for the seniors and the rest of the program.”
Walkowiak shattered her school record in the 3-meter dive with a mark of 362.10, eclipsing her old program record of 348.55 set in 2015 by more than 13 points. The Ballston Spa, N.Y., native also broke her RU record in the 1-meter dive with her top performance of 325.35.
Black shined off the boards in the 3-meter dive as well with her score of 352.43, which would have also broken Walkowiak’s 2015 school record in the event. Black contributed a third-place mark of 272.10 in the 1-meter, while sophomore Rachel Byrne added scores of 292.04 and 281.03 in the 1- and 3-meter dives, respectively. All six dives from the trio were NCAA Zone qualifying results.
In the pool, Rutgers won all but two events against the Spiders, as Stoddard, sophomore Francesca Stoppa and freshman Alexandra Fabugais-Inaba each had two individual victories.
Stoddard hit the wall first in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:03.91 and clocked in at 2:18.32 in the 200 breaststroke for the win. Stoppa contributed victories in the 100 and 200 butterfly events with times of 56.61 and 2:02.68, respectively, and Fabugais-Inaba registered top times in the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle.
Other individual winners for the Scarlet Knights included Kiely in the 50 freestyle (23.93), sophomore Vera Koprivova in the 200 backstroke (2:04.05), junior Thomasin Lee in the 1000 freestyle (10:32.54) and freshman Meghan Moses in the 100 freestyle (53.06).
In relay action, Koprivova, Stoddard, Stoppa and freshman Clare Lawlor finished first in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:45.81, while Fabugais-Inaba, Kiely and juniors Larissa Neilan and Karli Rymer placed right behind with a result of 1:46.04.
“We swam well today,” Martin said. “It’s an interesting time for us because we’re getting ready for the Big Ten Championships, so different people are at different points with their training. I thought we did a good job of executing the things we focused on in workouts, which is good to see at this point.
Rutgers will compete in an intresquad meet at the RU Aquatics Center on Thursday, Feb. 2 as it prepares for the Big Ten Championships Feb. 15-18.
