Swim & Dive Set to Host Rutgers Invitational

Wednesday, November 28

Piscataway, NJ

6 PM

Rutgers

Rutgers Invitational

Nov 28 | Women's Swimming & Diving

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Scarlet Knights welcome American, Columbia and Queens-Charlotte in four-day meet at Rutgers Aquatic Center

PISCATAWAY, N.J. (Nov. 28, 2018) - Rutgers swimming and diving hosts the Rutgers Invitational at the Rutgers Aquatic Center located in the Sonny Werblin Recreation Center from Wednesday, Nov. 28 through Saturday, Dec. 1 against American, Columbia and Queens University of Charlotte.

"The team is well rested, highly motivated and excited for this meet," said head coach Jon Maccoll. "We're aiming for personal best times and pool records while getting accustomed to a long, championship format meet in front of our home fans. It's one of the highlights of the season."

PARKING
Admission and parking are FREE as part of Rutgers' R Dollar, Your Game initiative this season. Fans are, however, required to register for free parking at ScarletKnights.com/Parking. Primary parking is available in Lot 64.

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ON A ROLL
• Rutgers is undefeated in duals and invitationals to start the 2018-19 season. In their first home event of the season, the Scarlet Knights topped Brown and Wagner in a tri-meet behind 11 event wins on Nov. 16 to improve to 5-0 in duals following victories over Michigan State, Oakland and Toledo. Rutgers also outscored four teams to claim the Justin Jennings Memorial Invitational at Colgate on Oct. 5-6 on the strength of 14 event wins, nine meet records and five pool records.

• Rutgers has 34 event wins as a team this season, led by junior Francesca Bertotto's nine in the distance freestyle races and seven by senior Federica Greco in butterfly and individual medley.

SWIM BITS
• Senior Francesca Stoppa's 1:57.19 in the 200-yard butterfly at the ACC/Big Ten Challenege is currently ranked 25th in the nation and fifth in the Big Ten.

• Freshman Terka Grusova's 53.97 in the 100-yard backstroke at the ACC/Big Ten Challenge is currently ranked 59th in the nation and eighth in the Big Ten.

• Grusova and junior Clare Lawlor have swam in all four of Rutgers' relays with top times this season.

• Rutgers sent two swimmers to NCAA's in back-to-back years (2017 and 2018) for the first time since 2007 and 2008.

• Senior butterflyer Francesca Stoppa has made the NCAA Championships in each of the last two years. Senior backstroker Vera Koprivova qualified in 2017. Bertotto won the 2018 ECAC championship in the 500-yard freestyle.

• Bertotto, Stoppa, Koprivova and Greco all scored for the Scarlet Knights by making the finals at the 2018 Big Ten Championships.

• During the offseason, the Scarlet Knights' duo from Czech Republic – Koprivova and Grusova – scored high finishes at their country's national championship. The teammates and countrywomen finished 1-2 with Grusova winning the national title in the 100-meter backstroke over the summer.

DIVING IN
• Senior diver Rachel Byrne qualified for the NCAA Championships during her junior season in 2017-18 and scored for the Scarlet Knights at the Big Ten Championships. Coach Woodruff's diving squad has sent at least one diver to the NCAA Championships in each of the last six seasons. With Class of 2018 grad Addison Walkowiak's 11th place national finish at the NCAA Championships last season, Woodruff has coached an NCAA All-America honorable mention for three straight seasons, and four out of the last five.

• Senior Marin Bloise found her biggest success thus far this season at the Rutgers home opener against Brown and Wagner. Bloise walked away with a 301.55 score and first place finish in the 3-meter diving portion, 28.65 points ahead of her closest competition.

• Freshman Megan Demeo edged out sophomore teammate Lauren Boone in 1-meter diving at the home tri-meet on Nov. 16 by six-tenths of a single point, scoring a 251.25 for her first career victory. Freshman Jenna Douglass notched her first career event victory with a first place score of 266.90 in 3-meter diving during a tri-meet sweep for Rutgers against Oakland and Toledo.

FOR THE B1G
Senior Francesca Stoppa and freshman Terka Grusova contributed to a decisive 251-102 victory for the B1G in the inaugural Big Ten/ACC Swimming & Diving Challenge at Purdue on Nov. 11. Stoppa accounted for three Big Ten points with her fastest swim of the year in the 200-yard butterfly, placing third in an NCAA B standard time of 1:57.19. Grusova posted her fastest time of the year in the 100-yard backstroke at 53.97 seconds, good for a seventh place finish in a race that had six NCAA B cut times. The Rutgers rookie was just three-hundredths of a second away from posting a cut of her own.

SCARLET KNIGHTS IN THE OPEN WATER
Junior Francesca Bertotto placed 10th out of the 69 finishers in the 5,000-meter (3.1 mile) at the CSCAA Open Water Championships, stopping the clock at 1:03:27.23. Bertotto, Rutgers' 500-yard freestyle record holder, finished just 11 seconds off the national champion pace. Rutgers finished with a seventh place team finish.

BEYOND THE BANKS
The Rutgers Aquatic Center, along with the lanes and wells across the country, will be a breeding ground for Olympic and National Team dreams. Rutgers' roster is made up of swimmers and divers from the United States, Italy, Czech Republic, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand.

SWIMMING ABROAD
In mid-April 2019, the Scarlet Knights will travel to Stockholm, Sweden to compete against international competition and close out their season at the Malmsten Swim Open Stockholm. In past years the competition has hosted numerous National, European and Olympic champions.

UP NEXT
The Scarlet Knights break as a team until competition returns on Jan. 11 for a home tri-meet with Princeton and Villanova. In the meantime, Rutgers heads on a winter training trip to Puerto Rico and California from Dec. 28 - Jan. 8.