Rutger Women Down Wagner in Dual Meet Opener

PISCATAWAY, New Jersey, October 26. THE Rutgers swimming and diving team downed Wagner, 174-117, in its first dual meet of the 2012-13 season. RU had a solid performance from start to finish and claimed gold in 13 total events, including one from the 200 medley relay, and finished 1-2 in nine races and both diving events.

“Today was a really great way to start the dual meet season for us,” said head swimming coach Phil Spiniello. “Today's performance showed a lot of signs of good things to come. The diving performance was outstanding, and now all of our divers are qualified for the BIG EAST Championship and three are qualified for the Zone Diving Championships. This week we'll be focusing on BIG EAST competition coming to our pool on Saturday. ”

The Scarlet Knights came out strong and took early control as they swept the first event of the afternoon. The RU team 'A' grabbed the first top finish of the meet as Morgan Pfaff (Red Lion, Pa.), Greta Leberfinger (Chatham, N.J.), Mary Moser (Wyomissing, Pa.) and Sarah Coyne (Osceola, Ind.) swam the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:49.35. The 'B' squad comprised of Kara Millaci (Whitehouse Station, N.J.), Victoria Maqueda (Los Alamos, N.M.), Casey Penrose (Tacoma, Wash.) and Sophie Newton (Leesburg, Va.) finished just under four seconds later with a time of 1:53.45, good for second place.

The 1000 freestyle kicked off individual swims for the afternoon, where Rutgers took the first of its many top-two finishes. Chelsea Rolin (Saint-Lazare, QC, Canada) touched first at 10:28.47, and Brogan Lee (Lindstrom, Minn.) came in second with a time of 10:34.91.

Rutgers stayed consistent with its finishes as Moser and Coyne completed the 200 freestyle with times of 1:53.58 and 1:57.35, respectively. Caroline Carlisle (Holly Springs, N.C.) came in at 1:59.35 for a fourth place finish.

The Scarlet Knights continued to dominate as the teams took off in the 100 backstroke. With a time of 58.99, Pfaff was the lone swimmer of the heat to touch in under a minute, and she was followed by Lindsay Gibson-Brokop who finished in 1:00.94.

In the 100 backstroke, junior Allyson Perrotti (Branford, Conn.) finished with the top spot (1:06.43), followed by teammate Greta Leberfinger who came in just behind at 1:07.78.

Junior Brittany Guinee (Berkely Heights, N.J.) started her afternoon with a top finish in the 200 butterfly (2:08.59), followed close behind by senior captain Taylor Zafir (Wheaton, Ill.) (2:08.78). Millaci touched fifth with a time of 2:19.35.

Freshman Joanna Wu (Kent, Wash.) finished with top times in both the 50 freestyle and the 100 freestyle events, coming in at 24.17 and 52.87 respectively. Again going 1-2, RU had Newton touch second in the 50 freestyle (25.16) and Coyne took silver in the 100 freestyle (55.15).

In her first dual meet as a Scarlet Knight, freshman Penrose finished second (2:11.92) behind fellow Wagner freshman Kara Lacoste who touched in at 2:08.80.

In the next race, Leberfinger and Zafir went 1-2 in the 200 breaststroke. Leberfinger touched first with a time of 2:22.90 and Zafir came in just over a second later at 2:24.20.

Rolin dominated in the 500 freestyle, and picked up her second gold of the day with a time of 5:09.70. Fellow Scarlet Knight Gibson-Brokop touched third in the race at 5:23.54.

In diving action, Rutgers swept the one-meter event and took home the top three finishes of the day. Nicole Honey (New Hyde Park, N.Y.) concluded her dives with a career-best 291.15, followed by Nicole Scott (Toronto, Canada) who dove a 287.47, and senior captain Katie Kearney (Mahwah, N.J.) who finished with 267.97 points.

The three-meter saw similar results as Honey and Scott took the top two spots again, separated by just over ten points. Honey took first with 319.95 points, followed by Scott who finished with 309.97.

RU holds its annual Alumni meet Saturday, Oct. 27 at 10 a.m. The Scarlet Knights kick off November with a BIG EAST battle against UConn, Georgetown, and Villanova Nov. 2-3 at RU Aquatic Center. Next Friday's action will start at 4 p.m. and Saturday's swims will begin at 10 a.m.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.

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