Swimming & Diving Adds Six More Top Times/Scores On Final Day Of Hawkeye Challenge

Saturday, December 3

Iowa City, Iowa

11 am | 6 pm

Rutgers University

2nd

Hawkeye Invitational

Madison Murtagh taking off the block against Princeton in the annual Battle For the Cannon Trophy at the Rutgers Aquatics Center

Photo by: Tom Gilbert

Swimming & Diving Adds Six More Top Times/Scores On Final Day Of Hawkeye Challenge

Dec 03 | Women's Swimming & Diving

IOWA CITY, IOWA - Six more top 10 performances, four NCAA qualifying scores on platform and two NCAA B cuts were captured by the Rutgers women's swimming & diving team on the final day of action at the Hawkeye Challenge.

FROM THE POOL DECK

Rutgers finished second in the competition with 766.5 points. Nebraska won the meet with a score of 952 with Illinois in third with 744.5 points and Iowa in fourth with 624.5 points.
The Scarlet Knights won a trio of events on the final day by sophomore Sofia (Lobova) Maksimova in the 100 free, graduate student Alice Scarabelli in the 200 back and graduate student Madison Murtagh in the 1650 free.
Rutgers registered four platform scores all among the best in Scarlet Knight history by sophomore Giulia Vittorioso, freshman Sephora Ford, graduate student Jenna Douglass and sophomore Holly Prasanto, along with top 10 swims by Murtagh in the 1650 and Scarabelli in the 200 back.
NCAA Zone marks were captured by all four Scarlet Knights on platform while Murtagh in the 1650 free and Sofia Chichiaikina in the 200 fly each picked up NCAA B cut times.

DIVING

All four Scarlet Knight entries on platform finished in the top eight, scored NCAA Zone qualifying marks and landed among the all-time top 10 scores "On The Banks".
The quartet was led by a second-place finish from Giulia Vittorioso with the fifth-highest score in RU history with 272.85. Sephora Ford placed fourth with the seventh-highest score in school history with 251.55 with Jenna Douglass following in fifth with 234.80 and the eighth-highest score at Rutgers. Holly Prasanto posted a seventh-place finish with the 10^th-highest score at RU with 228.25.

DISTANCE

Madison Murtagh held a huge lead in the 1650 free en route to the third-fastest time at Rutgers and an NCAA B cut. The graduate student clocked in at 16:20.90 winning the event with a 13.48-second margin.

SPRINTS

Alice Scarabelli moved up an all-time list by winning the 200 back. She was .09 seconds away from an NCAA B cut time with 1:57.16. Her time moved her up two spots on the RU all-time list with the sixth fastest time in the record books.
Sofia (Lobova) Maksimova won the 100 free with the top time and season-best of 50.05 with Giulia Ghidini also racing in the final and taking fifth with her best finish in the event this season in 50.94.
Sofia Chichaikina was the runner-up in the 200 fly with an NCAA B cut of 1:58.22. Viktoriia Kostromina was also in the final posting a seventh-place time of 2:01.41.
Rachel Kimmel added a third-place finish in the 200 breast in 2:13.78. During prelims she swam to a season-best 2:13.51. Tina Celik also competed in the finals taking eighth in a season-best 2:19.03.
Additionally, Sephora Ford and Jenna Douglass picked up NCAA Zone qualifying marks.

RELAYS

The weekend ended with the 400 free relay coming in second. The team of Alica Scarabelli, Sofia Maksimova, Julia Bartoszewicz and Sofia Chichaikina gave the squad its best time of the year in 3:20.08.

UP NEXT

Rutgers women's swimming and diving will embark on their annual winter training trips and return in the New Year to host Villanova on Jan. 21 and Nebraska on Jan. 27-28 at the Rutgers Aquatics Center. Admission is free.

Follow Rutgers women's swimming & diving on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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