Northwestern Women Top Rutgers, Illinois In Tri Meet

Meet Stats

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Northwestern

EVANSTON, Ill. —­­ The Northwestern women’s swimming and diving program won seven of 16 events and came away with a pair of victories over Big Ten foes Illinois and Rutgers at the Norris Aquatics Center Saturday afternoon.

The Wildcats improve to 5-0 early in the season with a 178.00-122.00 victory over Illini and 187.00-113.00 win over the Scarlet Knights.

Freshman Valerie Gruest Slowing continued her strong start to the 2016 campaign, picking up three wins for the second-straight week. Slowing won the 1,000 free by two seconds with a time of 10:08.01 and immediately turned around to win the 200 free with a time of 1:50.94. She finished her day with a win in the 500 free, touching the wall in 4:54.02.

Junior Mary Warren picked up a pair of wins freestyle sprints, coming in at a season-best 23.38 in the 50 free and 52.11 in the 100. Freshmen Krystal Lara (52.34) and Malorie Han(52.81) came in third and fourth in the 100 free to give the ‘Cats a 1-2-3 finish in their dual against Rutgers.

Illinois’ Audrey Rodawig finished second in the event.

Senior Lacey Locke posted a pair of top three-finishes on the afternoon, winning the 100 back in a season-best 56.48 and finishing third in the 200 back at 2:01.83.

Classmate Melissa Postoll finished one one-hundredth of a second ahead of Locke in the 200 back to finish second with a time of 2:01.82.

Senior Ellen Stello also chipped in with a trio of top-three finishe. Stello finished second in the 200 fly (2:01.90) and 400 individual medley (4:27.95) while making it a one-three finish for the ‘Cats in the 500 free with a time of 5:01.85

The Big Ten Diver of the Week Olivia Rosendahl paced the Wildcats with a season-best and NCAA zone qualifying 341.75 to claim the 3-meter springboard before finishing third in the 1-meter competition with a score of 283.75.

The Wildcats hit the road next weekend for a quad dual in Lexington, Kentucky, against Missouri, SIU and the host Wildcats. The competition will begin on Friday, Nov. 4 at 5 p.m. and continue Saturday morning at 10.

 

Illinois

Champaign, Ill. – The Fighting Illini swimming and diving team set off on the road for the first time this season, as the team visited Evanston, Illinois, to take on Northwestern and Rutgers. The meet featured mixed results, as Illinois defeated Rutgers by a score of 168-132, but fell to the Wildcats 178-122.

“Overall we had a very solid and competitive meet against two strong Big Ten teams,” said head coach Sue Novitsky. “It is nice to be able to come away with a win against Rutgers. We knew that it was going to be another meet with tight races. I was pleased to see people keep putting things together in their races and dives.”

In the first event of the meet, the Illini relay team of Kolar, Stratford, Vuong and Anderson earned a second-place finish in the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:48.27. Freshman Monica Guyett followed that performance with a second-place finish of her own, finishing the 1000 freestyle in a time of 10:10.47.

A few events later another freshman earned a second-place finish, as Jamie Kolar finished with a time of :58.07 in the 100 backstroke. For the second consecutive meet, senior Amelia Schilling had an impressive showing in the 500 freestyle. The Minnesota native finished in second place with a time of 5:00.92.

Two other Illini swimmers earned second-place finishes on the day, including senior Audrey Rodawig in the 100 freestyle (:52.31) and sophomore Megan Vuong in the 100 butterfly (:56.66).

Strong Day for Stratford

Samantha Stratford carried the Illini on the day, as the junior earned three first-place finishes. Stratford touched the wall first in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:01.55. She also won the 200 breaststroke and 400 individual medley with times of 2:16.70 and 4:22.60, respectively.

The Illini finished the meet strong by earning a first-place finish in the final event of the day, the 200 freestyle relay. The relay team of Anderson, Rodawig, Vuong and Bethke finished with a time of 1:35.71.

“Our relays stepped up and that is one of our main focuses this year,” said Novitsky. “Now we get some great work in the next couple weeks and keep building on this good start.”

Next Up

The Illini will head to Terre Haute, Indiana, to take on Indiana State on Saturday, November 5. Meet competition will begin at 1 p.m.

 

Rutgers

EVANSTON, Ill. – Rutgers swimming and diving produced five event titles during its tri-meet with Illinois and Northwestern Saturday afternoon at the Norris Aquatic Center in Evanston, Illinois. It marked the second meet in less than 24 hours for the Scarlet Knights, who competed against Miami (Fla.), Notre Dame and Purdue Friday night in South Bend, Indiana.

In team action, RU fell to both the Fighting Illini (168-132) and the Wildcats (187-113). In total, Rutgers had five top marks and top-three finishes in 11 of 16 events to conclude its challenging weekend road swing.

“Today was definitely one of the most challenging things we have done together as a team,” said head coach Petra Martin. “Experiencing this now is important for our growth and performance at the end of the season. We are focused on the process and gelling things together as a group so that we can peak at the right time. After some very tough doubles or triples and with the meet the night before, we still witnessed some great things.”

The Scarlet Knights started the meet strong when it produced a first-place result in the 400 medley relay. Sophomore Vera Koprivova, senior Rachel Stoddard, sophomore Francesca Stoppa and freshman Alexandra Fabugais-Inabacombined for a top mark of 3:47.03 to win the event.

In individual action, Stoddard had two top-two results, including her first-place finish in the 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:03.91. The Hillsborough, New Jersey, native also placed second in the 200 breaststroke with a mark of 2:19.49.

Continuing her strong weekend in the pool, Stoppa hit the wall first in the 100 butterfly with a time of 56.11. Her result of 2:02.90 in the 200 butterfly was good for third. Koprivova collected the other first-place time in the pool for Rutgers with 2:00.89 finish in the 200 backstroke.

Off the boards, junior Addison Walkowiak collected her second 1-meter diving title in as many tries. The Ballston Spa, New York, native recorded a mark of 300.55 to win the event, while senior Alyssa Black placed right behind in second with a score of 295.25. Black also finished second in the 3-meter dive with her 322.40 performance. Walkowiak placed third in the 3-meter dive with a total score of 313.25.

Other notable performances for RU included a second-place result of 1:51.30 in the 200 freestyle by Fabugais-Inaba. Senior Meghan Kiely and freshman Vanessa Ruiz finished third and fourth, respectively, in the 50 freestyle. Rutgers closed out the meet with a third-place showing in the 200 freestyle relay, as Ruiz, Kiely and rookies Meghan Moses and Clare Lawlor recorded a time of 1:37.43.

“Vera’s 200 back at the end of today looked very strong and confident, while Rachel and the divers showed a lot of fight,” Martin said. “Francesca stepped up in the 100 fly. Alex did a great job with her shorter events and our sprint crew showed some teeth as well. We have a lot of work to do, but I feel good about the steps we are taking.”

The Scarlet Knights return home for its next meet, as RU hosts Georgetown, Seton Hall and Villanova at the RU Aquatics Center on Friday, Nov. 4 at 4 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 5. At 9 a.m.

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About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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