Swimming & Diving Captures Highest Big Ten Championship Finish

Saturday, February 19

Madison, Wisc.

Rutgers University

Big Ten Championships

COLLEGE Swimming and Diving: FEB 19 Big Ten Women's Swimming and Diving Championship - Abigail Knapton

Photo by: Lawrence Iles

Swimming & Diving Captures Highest Big Ten Championship Finish

Feb 20 | Women's Swimming & Diving

Complete Results Photo Gallery

MADISON, Wisc. – The Rutgers women's swimming & diving team closed out the 2022 Big Ten Championships with its best finish since joining the conference in 2014.

The Scarlet Knights finished eighth overall besting Nebraska, Penn State, Illinois and Iowa.

On the fourth and final day, Rutgers captured two more school records and sent the 400 free squad and Abigail Knapton on platform to the podium.

Altogether, the Scarlet Knights had a school-record 10 podium finishes and broke seven school records during the meet.

DIVING

Abigail Knapton made her third appearance on the podium ending platform finals in seventh place. The Scarlet Knight totaled 324.05 points for a personal best and to set the Rutgers record entering finals in second. She scored 270.85 during finals, which included being awarded a 10 by a judge on her final dive.
Savana Trueb qualified for the platform consolation finals. She finished 15^th overall posting a score of 233.40.
Jenna Douglass also collected a personal best of 209.50.

RELAYS

Four of Rutgers' five relay teams captured new school records during the meet capped by the 400 free relay's seventh-place performance. Sofia Chichaikina, Alice Scarabelli, Sofia Lobova and Eleonora Trentin combined to clock in at 3:16.60.

SPRINTS

Sofia Chichaikina won the 200 fly B finals taking the top consolation final time of 1:56.81. She moved up the all-time top 10 list from fourth to second.
Alice Scarabelli was the runner-up in the C finals of the 100 free and placed 18^th overall. She logged a time of 49.40 for an NCAA B cut and the fourth-fastest time in school history.
Four Scarlet Knights also established new PRs during prelims. Natalie Schick set a new PR in her 200 back prelim appearance with a time of 2:02.33. Meanwhile, a trio of Scarlet Knights set PRs in the prelims of the 100 free. Eleonora Trentin went 50.03, Giulia Ghidini swam a 50.26 and Liza Ryndych came in at 51.14 all for personal records.

DISTANCE

Cat Salladin added to the point total and cracked the all-time top ten in the 1650 free. Her mile time of 16:45.98 was the seventh-fastest time in Rutgers history and placed her 22^nd in the event.
Yael Weber also swam to a career-best 17:30.02 in the 1650 free.

KNIGHT NOTES

Rutgers' eighth place performance surpassed the previous top finish of ninth in 2017 and 2018.
The seven school records broken during the course of the championships included:
- 50 free – Sofia Lobova – 22.30
- 200 free – Sofia Chichaikina – 1:46.12/Alice Scarabelli – 1:45.67
- 400 free relay – Sofia Chichiakina, Alice Scarabelli, Sofia Lobova & Eleonora Trentin – 3:16.60
- 800 free relay – Sofia Chichaikina, Alice Scarabelli, Giulia Ghidini, Eleonora Trentin – 7:10.24
- 200 medley relay – Alice Scarabelli, Tina Celik, Sofia Lobova, Giulia Ghidini – 1:39.38
- 400 medley relay – Alice Scarabelli, Tina Celik, Sofia Lobova, Sofia Chichaikina – 3:36.37
- Platform – Abigail Knapton – 324.05
The 400 free relay's record surpassed the previous time of 3:18.06 set by Sofia Chichakina, Olympian Elinah Phillip, Terka Grusova and Giulia Ghidini in 2020.
Abigail Knapton bested teammate Savana Trueb's platform record of 295.60 set at Princeton's Big Al Invite in December.

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

... 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓'𝐒 𝐀 𝐁𝟏𝐆 𝐖𝐑𝐀𝐏 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐍

The final day of competition at the Big Ten Championships included two more podium appearances and two more Rutgers records

The Scarlet Knights come home with their highest Big Ten finish to date #GoRU ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/xtu7kUlBjK
— RU Swimming & Diving (@RUSwimDive) February 20, 2022