Swimming & Diving Returns To The Pool Hosting Villanova

Saturday, January 21

Piscataway, N.J.

1:00 PM

Rutgers University

Villanova

Sofia Chichaikina - vs. Purdue at the Rutgers Aquatics Center

Photo by: Ariel Fox

Swimming & Diving Returns To The Pool Hosting Villanova

Jan 18 | Women's Swimming & Diving

Live Results Dive Results Parking Registration

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Rutgers women's swimming & diving team is back in the pool to host Villanova at the Rutgers Aquatics Center on Saturday, January 21 at 1 p.m.

Saturday's meet is the first of two home meets for RU in January as they head towards the Big Ten Championships in mid-February at the University of Michigan.

LAST TIME IN THE WATER

Rutgers women's swimming & diving earned 10 victories, captured 15 top 10 times/scores and set two school records in a second-place showing at the Hawkeye Invitational against Iowa, Nebraska & Illinois. The Scarlet Knights collected seven NCAA B cut times while the diving corps came away with 10 NCAA Zone marks.
The 200 medley relay team of Alice Scarabelli, Rachel Kimmel, Sofia (Lobova) Maksimova and Sofia Chichaikina reset the Rutgers record in the event for a second time this season posting a time of 1:38.95 taking .37 seconds off their previous record.
Kimmel added another Rutgers record with a swim of 1:00.65 in the 200 IM.
Other victories at the invite included Giulia Vittorioso on 1M (312.55), Sofia Chichiakina in the 200 free (1:47.37), Madison Murtagh in the 500 free (4:44.72), Alice Scarabelli in the 100 back (53.31), and the 400 medley relay (3:37.87).

LAST TIME VS. VILLANOVA

The Scarlet Knights were edged in their final dual meet of the 2021-22 season with the Wildcats taking a 133-108 win.
Alice Scarabelli and Sofia Chichaikina both helped the 400 medley relay team to the top time (3:49.58) with a seven-second margin while Scarabelli put in a win in the 200 free (1:51.03) and Chichaikina came in victorious in the 200 fly (2:01.04).

AROUND THE BIG TEN

Alice Scarabelli's first-place time of 53.04 in the 100 back in a first-place finish at the Hawkeye Invitational in early December is currently fifth in the Big Ten.
The 200 medley relay team of Alice Scarabelli, Rachel Kimmel, Sofia (Lobova) Maksimova and Sofia Chichaikina currently hold the eighth fastest time in the league clocking in at school-record 1:38.95 at the Hawkeye Invitational, while the 400 medley relay squad of the same Scarlet Knights also hold the eighth fastest time in the conference with a time of 3:37.87 from the Hawkeye Invitational.
Giulia Vittorioso's runner-up score of 272.85 on platform at the Hawkeye Invitational places her fifth among her Big Ten peers.

B1G AWARDS

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.

LAST YEAR IN THE WATER

Rutgers returns 16 letterwinners from last season including Big Ten Podium finishers Tina Celik (200 & 400 medley relay), Sofia Chichaikina (200 free, 400 & 800 free relay, 400 medley relay), Giulia Ghidini (200 & 800 free relay, 200 medley relay), Sofia Lobova (200 & 400 free relay, 200 & 400 medley relay), Alice Scarabelli (200 free, 200, 400 & 800 free relay, 200 & 400 medley relay), and Savana Trueb (3-meter).
The Scarlet Knights fostered a deeper squad for the 2021-22 season after a covid-shorten 2020-21 campaign and continued to make huge strides in the water. Rutgers captured its highest Big Ten Championship finish since joining the Big Ten eight years ago and finished 26th at the NCAA Championships, the highest finish for the Scarlet Knights since 2006.
Altogether the Scarlet Knights produced 10 podium finishes at the championships. Seven new Rutgers school records were established and 28 times/scores were recorded among the all-time top 10. Nine NCAA "B" cuts were collected, while six divers were sent to NCAA Zones.
On the boards, Rutgers sent two divers to the NCAA Championships producing an All-American with a finalist on platform and consolation round performer on 3-meter. At NCAA Zones, Savana Trueb was a runner-up on platform and finished third on 1-meter and fourth on 3-meter.
At the 2022 Big Ten Championships, the 800 freestyle relay reset the oldest record in the Rutgers history books breaking a 16-year record by 3.70 seconds.
The diving corps also made a splash with nine scores among the top 10, including resetting an eight-year-old platform record twice.

SUMMER WITH THE SCARLET KNIGHTS

Tina Celik swam to first place times in the 50 and 100 breast and 200 IM at the Borac Telegroup Grand Challenge in July while at the Slovenian Open Championship in August, had the top times in the 50 and 100 breast, was the runner-up in the 100 fly and placed third in the 50 fly.
Savanna Trueb is a member of the USA Diving High Performance – Tier 3 Senior squad. The senior was slated to be on the US roster for the 2022 World University Games this summer before competition was postponed until 2023. Last December, Trueb took seventh on platform at the USA Diving Winter Nationals and at the USA Diving Open Championship in August placed seventh on platform and 16th on 3-meter.
Rachel Kimmel won the 100 breast at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club (NBAC) Mid-Summer Classic to qualify for nationals. Her performance of 1:10.36 broke the 17-year-old pool record held by six-time Olympian and former 100-meter breast world record-holder Rebecca Soni. Soni also holds ties to Rutgers as the Freehold, New Jersey native swam club at the Sonny Werblin Aquatic Center with Scarlet Aquatics. Kimmel finished 18th at the Phillips 66 National Championships in July
Holly Prasanto advanced to the Women's 1M Springboard final at the 2022 British Diving Championships in late May. She was among the top 10 divers and top eight British qualifiers to reach finals. During finals, Prasanto placed fourth among her countrywomen with a score of 238.05.
The 2022 Italian Spring Championships in April saw Alice Scarabelli hit the wall as the runner-up in the A final of the 200 free and was 0.34 seconds behind champion Alice Mizzau, a 2012 Olympic qualifier.

RSMART

Rutgers women's swimming and diving has earned 17-straight College Swimming Coaches Association of America Scholar All-American Team Awards.
The Scarlet Knights boasted a 3.54 grade point average during the 2021-22 academic year, the third-best among Big Ten programs. Rutgers swimmers and divers collected eight 4.0 GPAs during the spring semester and 17 Scarlet Knights registered a grade point average above a 3.5 with 13 receiving Dean's List recognition.
Six Scarlet Knights were also bestowed CSCAA Scholar All-American distinctions including returning members Tina Celik, Sofia Chichaikina, Jenna Douglass and Alice Scarabelli. Each achieved a 3.5 grade point average or higher while collecting NCAA B cuts or advancing to NCAA Zone diving competition.