Bertotto Cleans Up In Distance Free As Rutgers Edges Michigan State

Michigan State vs Rutgers (women’s meet)

• Friday, October 26th
• McCaffree Pool, East Lansing, MI
• Short Course Yards
• Results

TEAM SCORES

1. RUTGERS – 151
2. MICHIGAN STATE – 149

Michigan State fell to Rutgers by 2 points in a Big Ten matchup on Friday, October 26th. In the end, the Spartans could have secured the win if not for their winning A 200 medley relay getting DQ’d in the first event of the meet, instead handing the event victory to Rutgers. Rutgers’ Francesca Bertotto dominated the distance freestyle events. She kicked off her meet with a 30 second victory in the 1000, posting a 10:04.76. Bertotto then went on to take the 500 with a 4:59.74, nearly 10 seconds ahead of teammate Alex Fabugais-Inaba (5:09.32). Fabugais-Inaba won the 200 free by 2.4 seconds with a 1:52.80.

Rutgers butterfly star Francesca Stoppa swept the fly events. She started with a dominant 3.6 second win in the 200 fly, posting a quick 1:59.84. She went on to win a tight race in the 100 fly, touching in 55.33 to teammate Federica Greco’s 55.43. She also split 24.93 on the fly leg of Rutgers’ A medley relay.

Rutgers’ Terka Grusova took Rutgers’ A medley relay put in a speedy 25.96. Grusova went on to take the 100 back decisively with a 54.89. She then fell to teammate Vera Koprivova 2:01.34 to 2:02.20 in the 200 back.

Michigan State pulled off a 1-2 victory in the 200 free, with their B relay out-touching their A for the win. Allie Heineman, Kennedy Truex, Taylor Arnold, and Courtney Aycock all split 24s on the B relay to combine for a 1:36.77 final time.

PRESS RELEASE – MICHIGAN STATE:

EAST LANSING, Mich. – In the first ever match-up between Michigan State and Rutgers, the Scarlet Knights defeated the Spartans by just two points, 151-149.
 
“The good thing is that we really improved, and I thought our girls really raced hard. It was nice because some of our younger kids broke out a little bit too, Abbey Neveling and our breaststrokes really carried the day,” head coach Matt Gianiodis.
 
The Spartans started the meet with a disqualification in the 200-medley relay due to an early takeoff from the board. The women followed up with a second-place time of 10:34.66 by Marie Dickson, third-place time of 10:39.62 by Lucy Schenden, and fourth-place time of 10:39.91 by Sarah Zofchak in the 1000 freestyle.
 
The McCaffree Pool record was broken in the 100 backstroke by Rutgers Terka Grusova. Shortly after, the Spartans found their first top finish in the 100 breaststroke when Ana Sortland came in first place with a time of 1:04.23, Ellie Roche came in second with a time of 1:04.58, and Erin Szara in third with a time of 1:05.17.
 
Coming back off of the break, the Spartans Olivia Chick took first place in the 100 free with a time of 52.85 and right behind her in second place was Allie Heineman with a time of 53.00.
 
For the second time during the meet Roche, Sortland and Szara find themselves in the top three slots in the 200 breaststroke. Roche places first with 2:21.50, Sortland was second with 2:22.57, and Szara third with 2:25.21.
 
After a lagging start, Neveling pulled ahead of the Scarlet Knights in the 200 IM and finished with a first-place time of 2:06.83.
 
“They’ve got a good team, but even the kids that weren’t winning I thought did really well. Our girls in the 1000, they came along off the first meet, so it was good,” Gianiodis said.
 
On the diving board, Michigan State claimed first and third in the 3-meter as Amanda Ling scored a 300.00 and Morgan Wellenzohn scored a 268.50. In the 1-meter, Ling placed second with a score of 267.52 and Wellenzohn placed third with a score of 264.30.
 
“Rutgers usually has good, solid divers so I’m pretty happy with how we did. Between the two boards we outscored them even though they got us by a point on the 1-meter. Amanda hitting 300 for the first time in her career was pretty exciting too,” diving coach Eric Best said.
 
Next Saturday, Nov. 3, the men and women will host Division III powerhouse Kenyon College at the McCaffree Pool at 12 p.m.

PRESS RELEASE – RUTGERS:

East Lansing, MI (Oct. 26, 2018) – Rutgers swimming and diving edged out Michigan State by a score of 151-149 behind 10 event wins on Friday night at MSU’s Charles McCaffree Pool.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

• Junior Francesca Bertotto took two individual events – the 500 and 1000 free – leading opponents by one-tenth and three-tenths of a second respectively.
• Senior Francesca Stoppa won two individual events, the 100- and 200-yard butterfly.
• Leading the Scarlet Knights divers in the 1 meter was senior Rachel Byrne with a final score of 282.37.
• Senior Vera Koprivova’s lone win of the meet came from the 200-yard backstroke.
• Junior Clare Lawlor swam and won the 50-yard freestyle in 24.04.
• Freshman Terka Grusova notched another win in her book in the 100 back.
• Junior Alexandra Fabugais-Inaba swept the competition in the 200-yard freestyle by 2.5 seconds.

FANTASTIC FINISHES

• Junior Frederica Greco finished her 100 butterfly in second place, just one-tenth of a second behind teammate Stoppa.

KNIGHTS NOTES

• Byrne’s first place finish is her second of her season and career.
• Stoppa rounds out her career wins tonight to a total 25.
• Koprivova out-touched her competition in the 200-yard backstroke for the 17^th time in her career, bringing her totals wins to 31.

UP NEXT
Rutgers returns to competition in Rochester, MI tomorrow against the Oakland Golden Grizzlies and the Toledo Rockets.