Women's Swimming & Diving Competes At ECAC Open Swimming and Diving Championships

Friday, February 24

Annapolis, Md.

Prelims: 10 AM | Finals: 6 PM

Rutgers University

ECAC Open Swimming & Diving Championships

Sofia Maksimova with the 200 free relay team at the 2023 Big Ten Championships

Photo by: Mike Mulholland

Women's Swimming & Diving Competes At ECAC Open Swimming and Diving Championships

Feb 23 | Women's Swimming & Diving

Championship Central

ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Rutgers women's swimming and diving team is back in the water at the ECAC Open Swimming & Diving Championships hosted by the US Naval Academy at LeJeune Hall.

Competing this weekend will be Tina Celik, Grace Hagemaster, Jessica Kraus, Sofia (Lobova) Maksimova, Madison Murtagh, Jillian Ruffner and Gillian Swift.

SCHEDULE

Friday - Prelims: 10:00 a.m. / Finals: 6:00 p.m.

200 free relay
500 free
200 IM
50 Free
400 Medley Relay
3M Dive

Saturday - Prelims: 10:00 a.m. / Finals: 6:00 p.m.

200 Medley Relay
400 IM
100 Fly
200 Free
100 Breast
100 Back
800 Free Relay
1M Dive

Sunday- Prelims: 10:00 a.m. / Finals: 6:00 p.m.

200 Back
100 Free
200 Breast
200 Fly
400 Free Relay
1650 Free

B1G RECAP

The Scarlet Knights went to the podium six times and achieved 39 season best times/scores at last weekend's Big Ten Championships.
Making the top eight were Madison Murtagh in the 1650 free, Sofia Chichaikina in the 200 fly, the 400 and 800 free relay teams as well as the 200 and 400 medley relay squads.
Additionally RU competed in 11 B finals and five C finals.
School records at the conference championships were collected by the 200 free relay and 200 medley relay teams.

BIG TEN WEEKLY HONOREES

Graduate student Rachel Kimmel was named the Big Ten Swimmer of the Week on Nov. 16 becoming the second Scarlet Knight to earn a Big Ten weekly award in 2022-23 and fifth to be named a Big Ten Swimmer of the Week since joining the league in 2014-15. The Fort Loundon, Pennsylvania, native helped set a new school record, collected two NCAA B cuts and moved up the all-time top times list in Rutgers' annual meet with in-state rival Princeton last week. Kimmel swam breast for the 200 medley relay team that set a new Rutgers record with a time of 1:39.32 besting the previous record of 1:39.38 set by the Big Ten Championship podium-placing squad last season. Individually, Kimmel logged a time of 1:01.60 in the 100 breast to move up one spot on the all-time list to fifth and clocked in at 2:13.62 in the 200 breast moving up five spots to third on the all-time list after shaving 2.21 seconds off her previous season top time. Kimmel also placed third in the 200 IM against the Tigers with a time of 2:04.48.
Freshman Martyna Piesko was named the Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Week on Nov. 2. She becomes the fourth Scarlet Knight to earn the rookie weekly award since Rutgers joined the Big Ten in 2014-15. The first-year Scarlet Knight won the 200 back with one of the top times at Rutgers, was a part of the winning 200 medley relay squad and was runner-up in four other events as she helped the Scarlet Knights to their first-ever victory over Purdue. Piesko won the 200 back in 1:59.48 marking the eighth fastest time in the Rutgers record book with a 3.31-second margin of victory. The Lublin, Poland native also swam anchor on the 200 medley relay squad that won with a time of 1:43.02 The rookie also captured runner-up finishes in the 100 back in 55.70 and as a member of the 200 free relay (1:34.14), 400 free relay (3:26.94) and 400 medley relay (3:50.81). The 400 free relay was edged out of first place by .17 seconds.

RSMART

The Rutgers women's swimming and diving team was honored with its 18^th-straight College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Scholar All-American Team Award with one of the nation's top grade point averages.
The Scarlet Knights boasted a 3.55 grade point average during the 2022 fall semester, the fourth-best among Big Ten programs. Nineteen members of the program registered a grade point average above a 3.5 with 13 receiving Dean's List recognition.
Rutgers was among the more than 479 institutions from all levels and 188 Division I women's programs to earn CSCAA Scholar All-America honors for the 2022 fall semester for GPAs over a 3.0.

UP NEXT

Next up for the Rutgers diving corps is the NCAA Zone A competition taking place Mar. 6-8 in Morgantown, West Virginia.
The 2023 NCAA Women's Swimming & Diving Championships will be held March 15-18 in Knoxville, Tenn.

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