Rutgers Women To Host Princeton on Friday in Battle For Cannon Trophy

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Rutgers women’s swimming and diving team is back at the Rutgers Aquatics Center to host Princeton in the battle for the Cannon Trophy on Friday at 5 p.m.

• Rutgers traveled out to the Midwest last weekend splitting its meets with a 199-100 loss to Iowa and a 166-134 victory over Iowa State
• Against the Hawkeyes, RU competed at the same pool it will swim in at the 2020 Big Ten Championships in mid-February.
• Rutgers The Scarlet Knights took home first place in the 200 medley relay, 50 freestyle and 100 backstroke against Iowa.
• Freshman Sofia Chichaikina led the Scarlet Knights with a first, second or third place finish in four events, while on the boards sophomore Jenna Douglass put together a NCAA Zone qualifying performance on the 1-meter.
• In the victory over the Cyclones, the Scarlet Knights collected 11 victories in the 16 events led by a trio of wins from freshman Giulia Ghidini (100 freestyle, 200 freestyle & 400 free relay) and sophomore Terka Grusova (100 back, 200 back & 200 medley relay).
• On the boards, freshman Sam Blanc and sophomore Marina Wilkins both registered NCAA Zone qualifying marks on the 3-meter.

• Most recently, the Tigers finished second in a quad meet featuring NYU, Drew and Stevens Tech with wins by the 200 medley relay team and in the 400 individual medley, 200 freestyle 100 breaststroke and 100 backstroke. In diving, six of the eight Princeton entries achieved NCAA Zone qualifying scores.
• Princeton opened the 2019-20 season at FAU with 18 first-place finishes.

• Rutgers and Princeton will be swimming for the Cannon Trophy, named in honor of the Rutgers-Princeton Cannon War.
• The origin of the Rutgers-Princeton Cannon War dates to 1777, when two cannons from the British army were left on the campus of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) after the battle of Princeton during the Revolutionary War.
• The cannons remained near the campus until the larger of the two was put to use during the War of 1812 and moved to New Brunswick to protect the city.
• A dispute over cannon ownership ensued at some point, and the cannon eventually wound up back in Princeton, where it was placed, in the ground, on Princeton’s campus on the site that is now called “Cannon Green.”
• On the night of April 25, 1875 ten members of the Rutgers Class of 1877 set out to steal back “Big Cannon” from Princeton However, they were unable to move it, so instead they returned to New Brunswick with “Little Cannon”.
• Eventually, a joint committee settled the matter, and “Little Cannon” was returned to Princeton, however Rutgers students have been known to travel the 17 miles to the Princeton campus to paint the cannon red.

• The Scarlet Knights return a trio of swimmers featured among the top times in Rutgers history set last season.
• Sophomore Terka Grusova placed her named in the all-time top 10 in three events as a freshman – 50 free (23.19), 100 back (52.03) and 200 back (1:54.70).
• Sophomore Kasja Dymek also captured a pair of top 10 times as a rookie – 100 fly (54.66) and 200 fly (1:59.80).
• Sophomore Katie Dougherty also swam to one of the fastest 200 fly finishes (2:01.81).

• Federica Greco and Terka Grusova along with 2019 graduate Vera Koprivova were competed at the 30^th World University Game in Italy last summer, the most Scarlet Knights to be featured at the event.
• Swimming for host Italy, Greco posted the highest world finish of the week from the Rutgers trio. She turned in a 59.70-second butterfly leg in the 4×100-meter medley relay finals helping Italy to place sixth. Greco also qualified for the semifinals in both the 50- and 100-meter butterfly events with matching 14^th place finishes.
• Grusova, competing for her native Czech Republic, went 3-for-3 in qualifying for semifinals in her trio of backstroke events and finished 12^th in the 100, 15^th in the 200 and 16^th in the 50.
• Additionally, head coach Jon Maccoll served as an assistant coach for the Czech Republic National Team.

• The Scarlet Knights continue their march toward the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Clare Lawlor is gunning for the Irish National Championships (April 1-4), while Francesca Bertotto, Federica Greco and Giulia Ghidini look to book a spot at the Italian National Championships (April 1-4).
• Rutgers has also booked the USA Swimming TYR Pro Swim Series and the United States Olympic Trials on its schedule.

• Rutgers swimming and diving placed a program-record six Scarlet Knights on the 2019 College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Scholar All-America individual awards list including returnees Federica Greco (Fly/IM), Lauren Boone (Diving) and Jenna Douglass (Diving).
• To earn Scholar All-America designation, a student-athlete must have participated in the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships and achieve a grade point average of 3.50 or higher, either cumulative or during the semester of the corresponding championships.
• The team earned its 11^th straight CSCAA Scholar All-America Team Award in June with a team GPA of 3.53 and placed 12 on the Academic All-Big Ten list.

• The Rutgers women’s swimming & diving team will host the Rutgers Invitational at the Rutgers Aquatics Center on Dec. 4-7.