Weekly Athletic Communications Report: April 1

THE FIVE THINGS TO KNOW

National champions Anthony Ashnault and Nick Suriano, as well as Tournament Coach of the Year Scott Goodale, rang the bell at Old Queens on Tuesday. The bell is reserved to mark significant occasions university-wide. (RVision recap)
Freshman Reanda Richards captured the 400m hurdle Florida Relay title with the nation's top time (57.21). The only other Scarlet Knight with a faster finish is Lori McCauley, who set the RU & then-American record of 55.69 at the 1982 National Sports Festival.
Rutgers University Dance Marathon to support Embrace Kids Foundation will take place Friday and Saturday at the RAC. Football, men's basketball, field hockey, swimming & diving, women's track & field, women's soccer, rowing and gymnastics will perform in the dance competition.
The Scarlet-White football game, presented by PNC Bank, is slated for 3:30 p.m. on April 13. Admission and parking are free for the annual scrimmage, which follows the ceremonial groundbreaking for the Gary and Barbara Rodkin Academic Success Center at 12 noon.
Rutgers Athletics set an annual "Giving Day" record, raising over $200,000 and counting in a span of 24 hours. The RFund Twitter account generated 81,000 impressions.

Football

Head coach Chris Ash announced Jay Valai as cornerbacks coach. Valai played safety at Wisconsin from 2006-10, where Ash served as defensive backs coach his senior season.
Spring Practice Notebook: The Cornerbacks.
RVision Video: Chris Ash Saturday media availability, The Safeties, Defensive Line.
ScarletKnights.com: Spring Game Central.

Wrestling

National Champions Anthony Ashnault and Nick Suriano will be honored at the New Jersey Devils game on Monday night at the Prudential Center.
Ashnault is one of four finalists for the Hodge Trophy, the top individual award in college wrestling.
ScarletKnights.com: 2019 NCAA Champions Central

Gymnastics

Belle Huang travels to Georgia to compete in Friday's NCAA Regionals on floor exercise. The sophomore scored a 9.800 or better in the event the last eight meets & had a career-high 9.925 in the home opener on Jan. 19.

Men's Basketball

Incoming 2019-20 freshman Paul Mulcahy averaged a triple-double (18.1 ppg, 10.2 rpg & 10.1 apg) this past season, becoming the first New Jersey high school boys player to average a triple-double since Middle Township's LaMarr Greer in 1992-93.

Women's Basketball

Incoming 2019-20 freshman Maori Davenport was invited to participate in the NCAA Next Generation for Women, a minicamp for select Junior National Team Athletes at the Women's Final Four in Tampa.

No. 18 Men's Lacrosse (6-4, 1-0)

Travels to No. 20 Johns Hopkins on Saturday (2 p.m., ESPNU).
Earned its first ranked and conference win in a 14-6 victory at No. 4 Ohio State. Kieran Mullins had eight points, while Max Edelmann made 17 saves, holding OSU to seven goals below their average. Win was RU's fifth all-time against a top-five foe and tied for its highest-ranked on the road. (Post-game interviews: Brian Brecht, Kieran Mullins)
Edelmann leads the nation in saves (16.13) & is second in save percentage (62%). Mullins is fourth in points (5.63) and fifth in assists (3.0).
Kyle Pless was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week on Tuesday.

Women's Lacrosse (5-7, 0-3)

Hosts Cornell on Tuesday (4 p.m., BTN2Go) to close out non-conference action.
Dropped a decision to No. 2 Maryland on Saturday afternoon at HighPoint.com Stadium.
Junior Sam Budd was named Co-Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week on Tuesday, marking the fourth individual weekly award this season.

Women's Golf

Competes at the Jan Weaver Invitational, hosted by Murray State, Friday and Saturday in Murray, Ky.

Men's Golf

Competes at the Redhawk Invitational at Chambers Bay Monday and Tuesday in University Place, Wash.

Rowing

Returns to action on April 13 for a Big Ten Double Dual against Michigan State and Michigan on the campus of Ohio State.
Picked up four event wins, including a pair of victories over nationally-ranked squads, at the Doc Hosea Invitational on Saturday in Cherry Hill, N.J.

Women's Track & Field

Returns to competition at the Sam Howell Invitational, hosted by Princeton, on Friday and Saturday.
Reanda Richards (400m) and Rhonda Rogombe (high jump) captured event titles at the Florida Relays. Richards' time is the top 400m hurdle time in the nation. Rogombe's jump of 1.78m (5'10") was .01m shy of tying the school record and is currently 15th in the nation.

Men's Track & Field

Returns to competition at the Sam Howell Invitational, hosted by Princeton, on Friday and Saturday.
is ranked 35th in the latest USTFCCCA team national rating index.
Split the squad this past weekend for appearances at the Florida Relays and the Rider 5-Way.
At the Florida Relays, the 4x400 relay of Chris Jenkins, Izaiah Brown, Sterling Pierce and Taj Burgess broke the school outdoor record with a time of 3:04.27.
At the Rider 5-Way, Patrick Warren (long jump) and Jarrod Brovero (pole vault), and Jordan Lorenzo (high jump) earned titles.

Softball (16-17, 0-6)

Faces its third straight Big Ten opponent ranked or receiving votes when it travels to RV/RV Ohio State for a three-game series on Friday (6 p.m.), Saturday (2 p.m.) and Sunday (1 p.m.) on BTN Plus.
Dropped three games to No. 23 Michigan at the RU Softball Complex, with senior shortstop Jess Hughes picking up at least one hit in each contest and scoring three of Rutgers' six runs during the weekend (ScarletKnights.com Recaps: Friday, Saturday, Sunday).

Baseball (7-17, 1-2)

Hosts Wagner Wednesday (3 p.m., BTN Plus) before traveling to Iowa for a weekend series. Sunday's game will televised on BTN at 1 p.m.
Split four home games this past week, beating Stony Brook 6-5 on Tuesday (video) and going 1-2 versus Ohio State in the first Big Ten series of the season.
Tyler McNamara hit a walk-off single in the 15th inning to beat the Buckeyes, the longest RU game by innings since 2003. (video)
The pitching staff worked to a 1.80 ERA in the weekend series and stranded all 10 inherited runners.

Tennis

Competes at Iowa on Friday (3 p.m.) & at Nebraska on Sunday (9 a.m.).
Dropped two ranked contests last week, to No. 24 Northwestern and No. 36 Illinois. Freshman Sydney Kaplan earned her first Big Ten singles win against the Fighting Ilini.

Volleyball

Hosts a spring game Friday (5 p.m.) against St. John's at the College Avenue Gym.

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Schedule