The #20 Penn State Nittany Lion women handed the Rutgers Scarlet Knights a 212-138 victory over the weekend, completing a two-day meet with a 101-64 advantage on Saturday alone.
That is Rutgers’ first loss of the season and comes in their first ever Big Ten Conference dual meet.
Penn State began Saturday’s swimming just as they did Friday’s, with a 1-2-3-4 (though only three can score) finish in the women’s 500 free. That was led by a 4:52.52 from Megan Siverling and a 4:54.78 from freshman Katelyn Sowinski. Rutgers, though with a good young nucleus, were clearly overmatched in the freestyle events at this meet, as Penn State went at least 1-2-3 in all of them.
After another maximum-points finish from Penn State in the women’s 100 free (led by Megan Wujciak in 51.40), Rutgers flexed their muscle in the backstrokes, and specifically the muscle of star junior Joanna Wu.
Wu swam a 2:01.51 to win the women’s 200 back, opening up an almost-insurmountable lead on the first 100 yards of the race. That completed a backstroke sweep for her after winning the 100 on Friday (55.80).
Wu, whose results don’t indicate that she really had a big taper meet mid-season, was right-on-top of her season-best times in both of those races. The Big Ten is one of the toughest conferences in which to be a backstroker, but besides the challenge, that provides an opportunity for Rutgers to stake a claim, via Wu, in their first season in the new conference.
Penn State would win the rest of the day’s events, with the best race coming in the 200 yard breaststroke. There, Penn State sophomore Melissa Rodriguez and Rutgers senior Greta Leberfinger battled back-and-forth, with Rodriguez’s endurance earning her the win 2:16.37-2:17.53. Leberfinger had won the 100 yard race on Friday, but Rodriguez is the better 200 breaststroker of the pair, which showed up in this swim.
Rutgers finishes the meets with duals against New Hampshire and Georgetown, both of which will see them as favorites; this meet against Penn State will be their only Big Ten dual of the season.
Penn State has meets against Navy, Bucknell, and at the Virginia Tech Invitational remaining. They will then meet again at the Big Ten Championships in Columbus, Ohio.
