Rutgers swimming and diving hosted its annual alumni meet on Saturday morning, as more than 50 former Scarlet Knights joined the current squad at the Rutgers Aquatics Center during homecoming weekend.
“We were super excited to welcome all of our alumni back,” said head coach Petra Martin. “We have a fantastic and huge group, the biggest group we’ve had back in a few years. We had several events for them this weekend, so it was great to have everyone back and to share with them what we’re doing here with the current team.”
Alumni from both the men’s and women’s teams came from around the country and world, which included former athletes from as far as Switzerland and Sweden. The group met for dinner Friday night before competing against one another Saturday morning.
“It’s really amazing having all of these people back,” said head diving coach Fred Woodruff, who has been with the program for 24 years. “I saw kids who I haven’t seen in 10 to 15 years. It was fantastic to see all of these people excited to be back home.”
To cap the weekend, Kelly Harrigan, who competed for the Scarlet Knights from 2002 to 2006, was inducted into the Rutgers Athletics Hall of Fame. Harrigan was a four-time first team All-American during her impressive time with the program, capturing 20 conference championships during her decorated career “On the Banks”.
On the world stage, Harrigan was a three-time Olympic Trials participant, competing in 2000, 2004 and 2008. Representing the United States at the 2007 World University Games, Harrigan captured a gold medal in the 200 backstroke and participated in USA’s 800 freestyle relay’s gold-medal performance, which re-set a World University Games’ record. Her time in the 200 backstroke was the 16th-fastest time in the world in 2007.
“It’s a great honor for her and we’re so proud of everything that she has accomplished,” Martin said. “It speaks to the quality of this program from years before as well as to the future. We hope to have more Scarlet Knights inducted as time goes on.”
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