Swimming and Diving to Host Princeton Friday in Battle for Cannon Trophy

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers swimming and diving will be in action for the third meet of the season, which comes at home this Friday night. Rutgers will host Princeton at the Rutgers Aquatics Center at 6 p.m. in a rivalry matchup as the two schools will do battle for the 'Cannon Trophy'.

The Cannon Trophy

Rutgers and Princeton will be swimming and diving for the Cannon Trophy, named in honor of the Rutgers-Princeton Cannon War.
The origin of the Rutgers-Princeton Cannon War dates to 1777 when two cannons from the British army were left on the campus of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) after the battle of Princeton during the Revolutionary War.
The cannons remained near the campus until the larger of the two was put to use during the War of 1812 and moved to New Brunswick to protect the city.
A dispute over cannon ownership ensued at some point, and the cannon eventually wound up back in Princeton, where it was placed, in the ground, on Princeton's campus on the site that is now called "Cannon Green."
On the night of April 25, 1875, ten members of the Rutgers Class of 1877 set out to steal back "Big Cannon" from Princeton However, they were unable to move it, so instead they returned to New Brunswick with "Little Cannon".
Eventually, a joint committee settled the matter, and "Little Cannon" was returned to Princeton, however, Rutgers students have been known to travel the 17 miles to the Princeton campus to paint the cannon red.
Rutgers won the inaugural Cannon Trophy meeting, taking a 163-137 decision, with Princeton winning each year since.
Last season against Princeton, Rutgers earned event wins from Emilianna Gonzalez (50 Free) and Bailee Sturgill (3-Meter Dive).

About Rutgers

The Scarlet Knights are off to a strong start to the season. The Scarlet Knights excelled in the opening weekend of the season, with a strong two-day performance as the hosts of the Rutgers' Preseason Invitational. Rutgers set a pool record in its first swim of the season. In the 200 Freestyle Relay. Lena Bauer, Emillianna Gonzalez, Anna Vlachou and Journei Webster swam a 1:30.34 to set the mark and just missed the previous school record (1:30.33, set in 2020). Overall, Rutgers had 14 first place finishes and 28 top-3 finishes over two days of competition.

In the second meet of the season, Rutgers earned a 200-153 victory over Liberty and a 241-111 decision over James Madison in a Tri-Meet in Harrisonburg, Va. Across two days of the tri-meet, Rutgers had 11 first place finishes and 23 total top-3 finishes.

Florence Robitaille was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week following her performance in the tri-meet. She had five overall top-two finishes in the victories for RU. Her top swim came in the 200 Backstroke, as she took first place with a time of 2:00.39. Robitaille also swam the leadoff leg of the 400 Medley Relay, with RU winning the event at 3:44.85.

About Princeton

Princeton is receiving votes is the CSCAA poll, sitting just outside the top-25. The team competed in preseason action against October 16 in their lone tuneup ahead of the meet.

The Tigers, who were a top-25 program last season, sent two divers and three swimmers to NCAAs last season. Three of those five return this year, Eleanor Sun (2026 Second Team All-American in the 400 IM), Sabrina Johnston (2026 NCAA qualifier in 100 Back and 100 Free) and diver Charlotte Norman (NCAA qualifier on all three boards).

Up Next

Rutgers will return to competition the following weekend, heading on the road to Charlotte. The team will face Queens and Vanderbilt in a two-day meet on November 6-7.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Lena Bauer

Emilianna Gonzalez

Florence Robitaille

Bailee Sturgill

Anna Vlachou

Journei Webster

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