PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Day one of Rutgers women's swimming & diving's tri-meet with Nebraska and Iowa saw the Scarlet Knights collect a trio of top 10 times, including an NCAA B cut in the 200 fly.

Nebraska enters day two ahead of Iowa, 111.00-56.00, and Rutgers, 97.00-77.00, while the Hawkeyes hold an edge on the Scarlet Knights, 88.50-78.50.
 

FROM THE POOL DECK

• Sophomore Blanka Berecz captured the third fastest time in school history, as well as an NCAA B cut, with her victory in the 200 fly. Berecz hit the wall in 1:57.69 earning the win with a 2.43-second margin and took 1.57 seconds off her previous PR set at last year's Big Ten Championships.
• Berecz was followed by teammate Viktoriia Kostromina, who as the runner-up in the 200 fly, posted the ninth fastest time in program history in 2:00.12. She bettered her previous top time of 2:00.72 set back against Princeton in 2022.
• Fellow sophomore Sofia Bartoloni moved up the charts on RU's top 10 200 breast list. The Scarlet Knight tied for third and moved up three spots into fourth all-time "On The Banks" clocking in at 2:13.21. She reset her previous PR of 2:13.62 from the Minnesota Invite in December.
• Teammate Molly Urkiel was just shy of breaking the Rutgers Aquatics Center record in the 200 breast. Urkiel, the Scarlet Knights school record holder in the event, bested the pool record of 2:12.37 set by Katherine Mann of New Hampshire in 2014, with her time of 2:12.16, but was the runner-up in the event as Nebraska's Maia Hall won, beating out Urkiel by .26 seconds, to earn the new pool benchmark.
• Rutgers also saw a victory from graduate student Shannon Meadway in the 200 back edging out Nebraska's distance All-American and NCAA qualifier Gena Jorgenson with a time of 1:57.72.
• RU's 200 medley relay squad of Martyna Piesko, Molly Urkiel, Cameron Kuriger and Brooke Thompson were also runners up. The team kicked off the meet with a time of 1:41.02, narrowly edged by .28 seconds by the Cornhuskers.
• On the boards, the Scarlet Knight diving corps was led by Amelia Scott on 3M. Scott finished third with a score of 308.15.

RESULTS - DAY ONE

200 Back
1. Shannon Meadway – 1:57.72
 
200 Breast
2. Molly Urkiel – 2:12.16
3T. Sofia Bartoloni – 2:13.21
 
200 Fly
1. Blanka Berecz – 1:57.69
2. Viktoriia Kostromina – 2:00.12
 
200 IM
2. Shannon Meadway – 2:01.85
 
200 Free Relay
3. Rutgers A (Jade Smits, Brooke Thompson, Molly Urkiel, Martyna Piesko) – 1:35.20
 
200 Medley Relay
2. Rutgers A (Martyna Piesko, Molly Urkiel, Cameron Kuriger, Brooke Thompson) – 1:41.02
 
3M Dive
3. Amelia Scott – 308.15

 

UP NEXT

• Rutgers, Nebraska and Iowa will be back in the pool on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. to compete in the 400 medley relay, 1650 free, 50 free, 100 back, 100 breast, 100 fly, 200 free, 400 IM, 400 free relay and 1M dive.
• Nine Scarlet Knight of the graduating class of 2025 – Viktoriia Kostromina, Shannon Meadway, Hale Oal, Martyna Piesko, Holly Prasanto, Natalie Schick, Jade Smits, Gillian Swift and Molly Urkiel – will be honor prior to the meet at 9:30 a.m.  

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