Women’s Swimming & Diving
It seems the 2021-22 swimming & diving season has been going fast — but so have the Scarlet Knights this season in the water.
Since head coach Jon Maccoll joined the program in the fall of 2017, the Scarlet Knights have established 42 times among the all-time top 10. Of those 42 times, eight have been captured in the first half of the 2021-22 season with even faster times expected heading into to championship season.
In last their meet before heading off for the annual winter break training trip, Rutgers swimmers compiled 46 season bests at the Big Al Invite racing to their best times in the 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1650 free, 100 and 200 breast and 400 IM of the year.
The 400 and 800 free relay teams and 400 medley relay teams also had their fastest times of the season. In fact the 400 free relay team was a mere .44 seconds off the school record their last time in the water.
Since arriving “On The Banks”, Sofia Lobova has been flirting with setting new Rutgers benchmarks. The first-year Scarlet Knight has placed her name among the Rutgers top 10 twice and is a two-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week – and in just her first seven contests in the water as a Scarlet Knight.
The Krasnoyarsk, Russia native collected two NCAA B cuts at the Big Al Invite in both the 100 free and 100 fly. Hitting the wall in 49.38 in the 100 free, she placed her name third in the Rutgers top 10, only .34 seconds short of the Scarlet Knight record. Lobova also hit the wall in 53.31 in the 100 fly, another time that is the fourth-fastest time in RU history.
While Lobova was .13 seconds short of a third NCAA B cut at the invite in the 50 free, it proved to be another top Rutgers performance in the event. Logging 22.91 in the final, the time placed Lobova fifth all-time.
The freshman has also been an important part of the 400 free relay team that could potentially reset a record this year. Swimming the second leg of the relay, Lobova, along with the other three members of the squad, all logged splits under 50 seconds at the Big Al Invite and are primed to go even faster down the stretch.
Lobova hasn’t been the only Scarlet Knight newcomer making an impact on RU’s top ten lists as Tina Celik has raced to some of the fastest times “On The Banks” in the breaststroke.
Celik first cracked the 100 breast top times in prelims on day two of the Big Al Invite only to later move herself further up the list later in the day. During finals, she jumped up to seventh all-time at RU with a finish time of 1:02.68.
The freshman who hails from Kranj, Slovenia was not done though as the very next day she placed her name on the 200 breast top ten list. Celik erased 6.44 seconds off her time swim from the Colgate Invite back in early October to finish in 2.16.86 with the top time of the B final and the ninth-fastest time on record at Rutgers.
A third Scarlet Knight newcomer is also making her name known among the all-time best to swim at Rutgers with Alice Scarabelli’s name etched among the fastest in three events.
Scarabelli made quite the impression on RU’s all-time lists in a Big Ten road meet with Purdue in late October.
The graduate student from Milan, Italy first made the 100 back list against the Boilermakers and three meets later clocked in at 54.23 during the annual “Battle For The Cannon Trophy” with Princeton to land seventh all-time.
It was nearly the same story in the 200 back for the Scarlet Knight. After cracking the top 10 going under two minutes at Purdue, Scarabelli stayed in seventh all-time but dropped her time down to 1:59.08 against the Tigers in early December.
In her first home meet at the Rutgers Aquatics Center, a victory over Harvard, Scarabelli landed on another top ten list. Helping the 400 free relay team pick up a win, she led off posting a time of 50.51 to enter the list at number ten.
Ultimately, Scarabelli’s presence in the relays could be what the squads need to reset some Rutgers records.
The Scarlet Knight swimmers haven’t been the only ones making waves in the record book. Under first-year coach Natasha Chikina, the diving squad has been collecting some of the best scores in recent memory. In fact, seven performances from three different Rutgers divers have been among the best.
A Rutgers record has already been established by one of the newest members of the corps. Savana Trueb, who captured the 2021 SEC platform title at Missouri before transferring to Rutgers, won the Big Al Invite title with a Rutgers record 295.60. The score also tops the Big Ten leaderboard heading into the new year.
The Colorado Springs, Colorado native’s name can also be found fifth all-time on 1M following her 298.95 on 1M following RU’s home victory over Harvard and sixth all-time on 3M set with a 325.43 at Princeton.
Transfer Abigail Knapton, the reigning Big Ten Diver of the Year, has also made an immediate impact and already earned two Big Ten Diver of the Week accolades for her performances in the first half of the season. From the first meet of the season against Army to RU’s last competition at the Big Al Invite, the Omaha, Nebraska product has consistently captured top marks in the Rutgers record books in all three events.
Knapton’s top scores of the season included a 313.13 on 1M against Harvard in her first Scarlet Knight home meet and a 344.33 on 3M on the road at IUPUI. Both scores were the third-best total in history and are sixth and seventh in the Big Ten respectively. She also scored 287.25 on platform at the Big Al Invite marking the fourth-best score in school history.
More recently, the duo of Knapton and Trueb competed at USA Diving Winter Nationals. Knapton appeared in three finals, including a third-place finish in synchronized platform. In addition to her 3M finals appearance, Knapton also joined Trueb diving in platform finals.
Another new face on the boards for the Scarlet Knights also appears among RU’s top all-time scores. True freshman Holly Prasanto has scores among the top ten on both 1M and platform thru six meets. In the opening meet of the year and her first-ever appearance as a Scarlet Knight, the Sheffield, England product logged 288.68 on 1M cracking the top 10. In her last appearance at the Big Al Invite, she scored 223.45 to rank seventh in the Rutgers record book.
Based upon the performances to date, the dive squad could be a major factor in the Scarlet Knights moving up the standings at the Big Ten Championships.
The best is yet to come for this young squad. Two more dual meets grace this year’s schedule – the final home meet taking place on Jan. 17 against Villanova and a trip to Nebraska Jan. 29-30 – all in preparation for the Big Ten Championships on Feb. 17-20 in Madison, Wisconsin.
Follow Rutgers women’s swimming & diving on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
– RU –
Knapton & Trueb Compete at USA Diving Winter Nationals
Sofia Lobova Earns Second B1G Freshman Of The Week Honor
New Platform Record, Five Top Ten Times/Finishes, NCAA B Cut and Relay Victory Wrap Up Big Al Invite Action
A Dive Squad Sweep, NCAA B Cut, Two Top Ten Times and Three Overall Titles Highlight Big Al Invite Day Two Action
Chichaikina, Lobova Reach A Finals in 50 Free On Day One Of Big Al Invite
Thanks for visiting !
The use of software that blocks ads hinders our ability to serve you the content you came here to enjoy.
We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here.
Thank you for your support!
