Bertotto and Walkowiak Wrap Up Winning Weekend at Big Al Open

Sunday, December 3

Princeton, NJ

9 a.m.

Rutgers University

Big Al Open

Bertotto and Walkowiak Wrap Up Winning Weekend at Big Al Open

Dec 04 | Women's Swimming & Diving

Day 3 Prelims Results Day 3 Finals Results Big Al Complete Results

Walkowiak sweeps diving events, Bertotto takes the mile

PRINCETON, N.J. (Dec. 3, 2017) – Rutgers swimming and diving wrapped up a busy weekend across two states as senior Addison Walkowiak completed the diving sweep with a win on the platform, and sophomore Francesca Bertotto won the 1,650-yard freestyle for her second event victory at the Big Al Open on Sunday evening.

Walkowiak, who previously set a new school and DeNunzio Pool record in 1-meter diving on Friday and won both the 1- and 3-meter diving events, completed the sweep with the triumph on the platform on Sunday. Her score of 261.37 is a season high in the event, and is an NCAA Zone 1 Championships qualifying mark.

Showing the versatility and depth of head diving coach and interim head coach Frederick Woodruff's diving squad, four of the five scorers in the platform event were Scarlet Knights. Junior Rachel Byrne finished second with a Zone Championships qualifying score of 228.45, while freshman Lauren Boone and junior Marin Bloise placed fourth and fifth, respectively.

Bertotto, who had won the 500-yard freestyle at Princeton on Friday, followed up with another victory in the mile on Sunday. Her season-best mark of 16:30.85 outpaced the pool of 21 at the DeNunzio Pool. It was a wire-to-wire win for Bertotto, who posted nine sub-30 second splits, while the second place finisher from Villanova posted only one on her opening 50 yards.

Bertotto's time was just three-tenths of a second off an NCAA B standard, and currently ranks 45^th in the nation in Division I. In the Big Ten, it ranks 11^th following last weekend's action.

The Scarlet Knights enter a six-week hiatus from competition before their return in 2018 with a dual meet against Yale on Friday, Jan. 12 at 4 p.m. at the Rutgers Aquatics Center.

Follow Rutgers Athletics on Facebook (www.facebook.com/RutgersAthletics) and Twitter (@RUAthletics) for all of the latest news and updates. For specific updates regarding Rutgers swimming & diving, follow the program on Twitter (@RUSwimDive) and on Instagram (ruswimdive). The team is also on Facebook (facebook.com/RUSwimDive).

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