2019 Rutgers Swimming & Diving Invitational
- Wednesday, December 4th-Saturday, December 7th
- Piscataway, NJ
- Short Course Yards
- Live Results
- Day 1 Results (PDF)
- Day 2 Results (PDF)
Rutgers is hosting UConn, Lehigh, Columbia, Colgate, and American for a swimming and diving invite this weekend. The meet kicked off Wednesday with the 800 free relay, then continued Thursday with the 200 free relay, 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free, women’s 1 meter diving, men’s 3 meter diving, and 400 medley relays. Rutgers won the women’s 800 free in the first event of the meet. The Scarlet Knights won the relay with a 7:15.38, touching first by 7 seconds. Rutgers got all 4 legs under 1:50, with Sofia Chichaikina leading off in 1:47.60, followed by Giulia Ghidini (1:48.49), Francesca Bertotto (1:49.45), and Alex Fabugais-Inaba (1:49.84). Rutgers’ time came in just .51 seconds off their best time from last season.
UConn won the men’s 800 free relay by a huge margin, 16 seconds. Josh Wroblewski led them off with a 1:37.19, with North Hansen (1:40.27), Karl Bishop (1:38.82), and Emils Jurcik (1:39.69) in tow, finishing in 6:35.97. UConn’s B relay came in 2nd with a 6:51.77.
Rutgers’ women went on to win the women’s 200 free relay as well, clocking in t 1:31.95. That time comes in .20 seconds off their season best of 1:31.75, which currently sits at 6th in the 12-team Big Ten conference. The Scarlet Knights got out to a quick start, with Elinah Phillip leading off in 22.96, and Chichaikina diving in next for a 22.66. Ghidini was next in at 23.18, and Clare Lawlor anchored in 23.15. UConn went 1-2 in the men’s 200 free relay as well. On the A relay Will Kearsey led off in a quick 19.60, and Roo Fenton, Josh Bryant, and Kyle Dunlap split 20.45, 20.40, and 20.33 respectively, resulting in a final time of 1:20.78. The B relay finished 2nd in 1:22.11, with Rowan King (20.36) and Emils Jurcik (20.25) outsplitting members of the A relay.
Will Kearsey was stellar for UConn through the rest of the session, winning the men’s 50 free by well over a second, touching in 19.55. That time was a lifetime best for Kearsey by .14 seconds, and earned him an NCAA B cut. Kearsey also broke the UConn team record with the swim. He concluded day 2 by leading off the UConn men’s 400 medley relay in a field-leading 47.18. Rutgers went 1-2 in the women’s 50 free, with Chichaikina touching first in 22.81, and Phillip right behind in 22.91.
Emils Jurcik won the men’s 200 IM by 5.3 seconds, finishing in 1:46.99. Jurcik split 23.70, 26.82, 31.87, and 24.60, leading the field in every stroke. Helen Wojdylo picked up a win for Columbia in the women’s IM, touching in 2:01.59.
Rutgers won the women’s 500 free, when their top distance swimmer, Francesca Bertotto, swam to a 4:49.80. Bertotto has a personal best of 4:43.32 from the 2018 Big Ten Champs. Josh Wroblewski swam to a 4:24.76 in the men’s 500 free, winning the event by 3 seconds. That time was just .75 seconds off his personal best.
Diving:
- Women’s 1 meter – UConn’s Elizabeth Drab took the first women’s diving event, tallying up a final score of 257.60. She narrowly outscored Rutgers’ Megan Demeo by 2.60 points.
- Men’s 3 meter – Columbia’s Ben Blizard barely pulled out the win in the men’s 3 meter, finishing with a score of 291.65. UConn’s Kyle Kennedy finished with a score of 291.15.
