Rutgers Women Pick Up Win Over Iowa State

Iowa State v. Rutgers (W)

• Friday, November 8, 2019
• Ames, Iowa
• RESULTS (PDF)

Courtesy: Iowa State Athletics

AMES, Iowa – The Iowa State swimming and diving team (3-2) fell to Rutgers (1-1, 0-1 Big Ten) 166-134. The Cyclones were unable to hold onto an early lead as Rutgers picked up steam as the meet went on.

The first race of the night was neck-and-neck throughout, with the Cyclones pulling ahead of the Scarlet Knights by .16 seconds. Emily Haan, Martha Haas, Wyli Erlechman and Elynn Tan kept the event win streak alive with their season-best time of 1:44.43.

The Cyclones took many close seconds with time differences of less than a second. Haas’ time of 1:04.72 in the 100 breast finished .04 seconds behind first and Lucia Rizzo’s time of 2:06.48 was only .41 seconds behind first.

The 50 free proved to be a tight race, with Tan ultimately leading competitors with her time of 23.65. Her time came in at .12 seconds ahead of Rutgers swimmer Sofia Chichaikina.

In the 1000 free, Nolwenn Nunes, Keely Soellner and Kami Pankratz took second through fourth. Soellner and Pankratz improved their 1000 free times on the season as Soellner touched at 10:37.67 and Pankratz at 10:48.65.

The Cyclones dominated the 200 breast as Haas (2:22.44), Bryn Ericksen (2:26.08) and Lehr Thorson (2:27.13) finished first, third and fifth. The finishes set Iowa State on the path of trimming down the 36-point deficit.

Following the 200 breast, Soellner (5:08.73), Nunes (5:11.50) and Rizzo (5:15.10) claimed second through fourth. The momentum carried into the 100 fly, as Tan and Erlechman went first and second with their times of 56.42 and 57.23, respectively, bringing Iowa State within 21 points of the Rutgers.

“I thought we had some really good races,” head coach Duane Sorenson said. “Martha Haas coming back and winning the 200 breast after getting touched-out in the 100 breast, I was really pleased with that. Elynn Tan did outstanding in both of her individual races, the 50 free and the 100 fly. Wyli Erlechman did fantastic in the 100 back and 100 fly. We had a lot of really good swims, some other swimmers kind of put too much pressure on themselves to try too hard. This is all about a learning experience about how is the best way to approach this mentally and physically to get the best performance.”

In one-meter diving, two Zone cuts were posted by Michelle Schlossmacher Smith (276.20) and Dana Liva (274.30). The scores mark Schlossmacher Smith’s fourth and Liva’s second one-meter Zone cut. On the three-meter, Jayna Misra and Liva finished third and fourth with Misra’s score of 270.50 and Liva’s 269.45.

ON DECK- Kansas Classic/Mizzou Invite

Iowa State returns to competition as the swimmers and divers split up. The divers head to Columbia for the Mizzou Invite from Nov. 21-23 and swimmers to Topeka for the Kansas Classic Nov. 22-24.

Follow the team on Twitter (@CycloneSD) or on Facebook at facebook.com/cyclonesd for in-game updates, post-meet recaps and results throughout the season.

Courtesy: Rutgers Athletics

AMES, Iowa – It was a quick turnaround for the Rutgers women’s swimming and diving team who closed out its weekend road trip to the Midwest capturing a 166-134 victory over Iowa State at Beyer Pool.

• The Scarlet Knights collected 11 victories in the 16 events led by a trio of wins from freshman Giulia Ghidini (100 freestyle, 200 freestyle & 400 free relay) and sophomore Terka Grusova (100 back, 200 back & 200 medley relay).
• On the boards, freshman Sam Blanc and sophomore Marina Wilkins both registered NCAA Zone qualifying marks on the 3-meter.

• Giulia Ghidini was the top finisher in both the 100 and 200 free where the Scarlet Knights went 1-2 in both races. In the 100 free, the Florence, Italy native hit the wall in 51.54 just ahead of teammate Sofia Chichaikina behind in second in 51.73. Meanwhile in the 200 free, Ghidini led the way in a time of 1:52.35 with Alexandra Fabugais-Inaba in second in 1:54.54.
• Terka Grusova outswam the competition for victories in both the 100 and 200 back. The Czech Republic national logged the top time of 56.06, with RU taking the top two spots in the 200 back with Grusova reaching first (2:03.72) and Fabugais-Inaba with another runner-up finish (2:06.89).
• Sofia Chichaikina also collected a victory in the 200 individual medley, while Fabugais-Inaba posted a third-place time (2:10.50).
• After being beat out for first place in the 100 breast the day before by Iowa by a mere .31 seconds, Aleksandra Ignatova took first in the event (1:04.68) against the Cyclones. She also placed second in the 200 breast (2:24.50).
• Kasja Dymek, who was the runner-up in the 200 fly against the Hawkeyes, bested the competition in the race on Saturday (2:06.07). She also took third in the 100 fly (58.18).
• Rutgers also went 2-3 in the 50 free with a runner-up finish for Chichaikina (23.77) and Elinah Phillip coming in third (23.95).

• Francesca Bertotto gave the Scarlet Knights a pair of wins in the 1000 free (10:20.56) and 500 free (5:02.12).

• The 400 free relay team of Giulia Ghidini, Terka Grusova, Meghan Moses and Clare Lawlor captured first (3:30.18) with Francesca Bertotto, Sarah Davis, Eleonora Trentin and Kasja Dymek coming together for third (3:36.16).
• The 200 medley relay squad of Terka Grusova, Aleksandra Ignatova, Clare Lawlor, Elinah Phillip claimed second (1:44.59).

• The Scarlet Knights captured a pair of NCAA Zone qualifying marks on the 3-meter led by the first-place performance from Sam Blanc (308.85) and Marina Wilkins placing second (302.80).
• Blanc also collected a zone qualifying score of 269.60 on the 1-meter to take third.

“It’s really hard to swim fast on the road and we swam fast both days against Iowa and Iowa State, but today we were really fast paced. We were fast in the first meet on Friday, but the difference for us was Iowa’s depth and the ability to put fresh bodies out there. Whenever you go into a power five school on the road and win, it’s a huge deal. Our sprinting was really good including standout swims by Terka (Grusova), Giulia (Ghidini) and Aleksa (Ignatova).

We get back tonight and get ready for Princeton, a meet we’ve been circling on the calendar for the first semester. It will be the first season these two teams will be racing for the Cannon Trophy.” – Head swim coach Jon Maccoll

“Just an outstanding job by the whole bunch, they really did a nice job today and it was exciting to watch. I was pretty thrilled with their performance today. On the 3-meter, Sam Blanc had an extremely good score and certainly qualifies for zones. The surprise, and very pleasant surprise and exciting result, was Marina Wilkins with an outstanding score on the 3-meter. Her performance was unbelievable and I was nearly shaking at how good it was. Sam (Blanc) also had a qualifying score on the 1-meter as well, so she’s qualified with both 1- and 3-meter scores which is important.”  – Head diving coach Frederick Woodruff

The Rutgers women’s swimming & diving team returns home to the Rutgers Aquatics Center on Friday, Nov. 15 to host Princeton in the battle for the Cannon Trophy.