Swimming & Diving Ready To Take On B1G Championships

Wednesday, February 19

Columbus, Ohio

5:00 PM

Rutgers University

Big Ten Championships

Molly Urkiel in front during the 100 breast against Iowa & Nebraska on Senior Day at the Rutgers Aquatics Center

Photo by: Tom Gilbert

Swimming & Diving Ready To Take On B1G Championships

Feb 15 | Women's Swimming & Diving

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Rutgers women's swimming & diving team competes this week at the 2025 Big Ten Women's Swimming & Diving Championships hosted by Ohio State at McCorkle Aquatics Pavilion.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Wednesday - 5:00 p.m.
Watch | Live Results - Swimming | Live Results - Diving

200 Medley Relay
800 Free Relay

Thursday - Prelims: 10:00 a.m. | Finals: 5:00 p.m.
Watch | Live Results - Swimming | Live Results - Diving

500 Free
200 IM
50 Free
1M Dive
400 Medley Relay

Friday - Prelims: Prelims: 10:00 a.m. | Finals: 5:00 p.m.
Watch | Live Results - Swimming | Live Results - Diving

100 Fly
400 IM
200 Free
100 Breast
100 Back
3M Dive
200 Free Relay

Saturday - Prelims: Prelims: 10:00 a.m. | 1650 Free - 3:15 p.m. | Finals: 5:00 p.m.
Watch | Live Results - Swimming | Live Results - Diving

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

LAST TIME IN THE WATER - SWIMMING

Rutgers hosts Iowa & Nebraska in Big Ten competition in its final home meet of the season with the Scarlet Knights capturing four top 10 program times and an NCAA B cut.
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.
Junior Megan Fox collected the eighth fastest time in the Rutgers record books in the 1650 free in 16:45.67. Fox, who finished third in the event, knocked 6.86 seconds off her previous PR of 16:52.53 set at the Gamecock Invitational in 2022.
Martyna Piesko, one of the nine Scarlet Knights of the Class of 2025 honored prior to the meet, led RU to victory in the 100 back in 54.29. It marked Piesko's fourth 100 back title of her career.
Urkiel posted a pair of runner-up times on day two action. She claimed a time of 1:01.52 in the 100 breast and clocked in at 4:15.58 in the 400 IM.
Meadway also gave Rutgers a third-place finish on day two in the 200 free hitting the wall in 1:50.86.

LAST TIME IN THE WATER - DIVING

Rutgers dove into the record book at the Princeton Platform Invitational.
All six Scarlet Knights captured NCAA Zone qualifying marks as the top three finishers belonged to RU with top 10 all-time scores.
Freshman Bailee Sturgill won the event with a 313.45, the second-highest performance in school history behind All-American Abigail Knapton's school record of 333.25. Sturgill bested her previous top result of 295.45 from exhibition action against Iowa and Nebraska.
Junior Sephora Ford was the runner-up, capturing a score of 302.50 for the third-best performance by a Scarlet Knight. She topped her previous PR of 270.30 set in winning the RU Diving Invite crown in December.
Rounding out the top three was freshman Katerina Hoffman with a third-place score of 280.45. Her score placed her sixth on the RU all-time list, topping her previous best score of 273.63 at the Buckeye Invite.
Rutgers also saw personal bests from senior Holly Prasanto (244.30), sophomore Amelia Scott (241.55), and freshman Madilyn Varnum (234.80).

RUTGERS B CUTS

Event	Participant	Time	Meet
100 Breast	Molly Urkiel	1:00.87	Minnesota Invite - Time Trial
200 Breast	Molly Urkiel	2:10.90	Minnesota Invite - Final
200 Fly	Blanka Berecz	1:57.60	vs. Iowa & Nebraska
400 IM	Molly Urkiel	4:17.50	Minnesota Invite - Final

RUTGERS ZONE SCORES

Event	Participant	Rank - Time/Score	Meet
1M	Katerina Hoffman	310.65	vs. Fordham
1M	Holly Prasanto	304.50	RU Diving Invite - Prelim
1M	Bailee Strurgill	297.30	vs. Princeton
1M	Amelia Scott	283.73	RU Diving Invite - Final
1M	Madilyn Varnum	274.10	RU Diving Invite - Final
3M	Holly Prasanto	353.55	RU Diving Invite - Final
3M	Katerina Hoffman	333.65	Rutgers Diving Invite - Final
3M	Amelia Scott	331.95	Rutgers Diving Invite - Final
3M	Bailee Strurgill	319.05	vs. Purdue
3M	Sephora Ford	306.50	Rutgers Diving Invite - Final
3M	Madilyn Varnum	305.85	Rutgers Diving Invite - Final
Platform	Bailee Strurgill	313.45	Princeton Platform Invite
Platform	Sephora Ford	302.50	Princeton Platform Invite
Platform	Katerina Hoffman	280.45	Princeton Platform Invite
Platform	Holly Prasanto	244.30	Princeton Platform Invite
Platform	Amelia Scott	241.55	Princeton Platform Invite
Platform	Madilyn Varnum	234.80	Princeton Platform Invite

RUTGERS TOP 10

1000 Free
8. - Orian Gablan - 10:05.26
9. - Megan Fox - 10:06.97

1650 Free
8. - Megan Fox - 16:45.67
10. - Orian Gablan - 16:50.00

100 Back
8. - Martyna Piesko - 54.07

200 Backstroke
7. - Shannon Meadway - 1:56.45
10. - Martyna Piesko - 1:59.48

100 Breaststroke
5. - Molly Urkiel - 1:00.87
7. - Elysha Pribadi - 1:01.40
9. - Sofia Bartoloni - 1:02.02

200 Breaststroke
1. - Molly Urkiel - 2:10.90
4. - Sofia Bartoloni - 2:13.21
5. - Elysha Pribadi - 2:13.48

100 Butterfly
3. - Martyna Piesko - 53.11
8. - Cameron Kuriger - 54.01
9. - Ellie Schinsky - 54.19

200 Fly
3. - Blanka Berecz - 1:57.69
7. - Ellie Schinsky - 1:59.69
9. - Viktoriia Kostromina - 2:00.12

200 Individual Medley
2. - Molly Urkiel - 2:00.21
3. - Shannon Meadway - 2:00.51
7. - Elysha Pribadi - 2:01.37

400 Individual Medley
1. - Molly Urkiel - 4:13.49
5. - Shannon Meadway - 4:17.50

1-Meter
5. - Katerina Hoffman - 310.65
7. - Holly Prasanto - 304.05
9. - Bailee Sturgill - 297.30

3-Meter
3. - Holly Prasanto - 353.55
4. - Katerina Hoffman - 333.65
5. - Amelia Scott - 331.95
6. - Bailee Sturgill - 330.65

Platform
2. - Bailee Sturgill - 313.45
3. - Sephora Ford - 302.50
7. - Katerina Hoffman - 273.65

LAST YEAR IN THE WATER

Rutgers finished 32nd at the NCAA Championships as Holly Prasanto earned second team all-america honors reaching the consolation final on 1M to place 11th overall. She became the fifth Scarlet Knight diver to earn all-america honors and marked the third-straight season Rutgers has sent a diver to the NCAA Championships.
At the Big Ten Championships, eight NCAA B cuts were registered, 18 top 24 finishes were recorded, 13 program top 10 times were captured and 28 personal bests were set.
The 400 medley relay squad consisting returning Scarlet Knights Martyna Piesko and Jade Smits had the highest-ever finish for a Scarlet Knight relay squad at the championships with a fifth-place finish and new school record.

RSMART

The Rutgers women's swimming and diving team was honored with its 22nd-straight College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Scholar All-American Team Award with one of the nation's top grade point averages.
Eight Scarlet Knights were honored as CSCAA Second Team Scholar Americans for achieving a 3.5 grade point average or higher while collecting NCAA B cuts or advancing to NCAA Zone diving competition last season including returnees Sephora Ford, Shannon Meadway, Martyna Piesko, Elysha Pribadi, Amelia Scott and Molly Urkiel.
Rutgers women's swimming and diving posted 14 Big Ten All-Academic honorees and five Big Ten Distinguished Scholars for the 2023-24 season.

UP NEXT

The Scarlet Knights will compete at the 2025 ECAC Championships held Feb. 28 - Mar. 2 at Lejeune Hall at the U.S. Naval Academy.
Rutgers will host the 2025 NCAA Zone A Diving Championships at the Rutgers Aquatics Center on Mar. 10-12.

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