Swimming and Diving: Junior sets two school records

The Rutgers swimming and diving team closed out its season by breaking three school records at the Big East Championships.

Junior Brittany Guinee set two of them.

Guinee finished the 200-yard butterfly March 2 with a time of 2:00.17, which broke the school record Andrea Miller set in 2002.

In the previous day’s competition, Guinee took part in the 400-yard medley relay, where the Scarlet Knights finished in third place and notched another Rutgers record.

“That was really special for me. I came on the team last year as a walk-on, and I just never imagined that a year and a half later that I would be part of two school records,” Guinee said. “That was a really exciting moment for me at Big East.”

The Berkeley Heights, N.J., native is a Loyola transfer. She currently sits in the top five all-time at Loyola in both the 100- and 200-yard butterfly events from her freshman campaign.

She attributes her success in the event this season to the Rutgers coaching staff.

“They prepared me so well for that 200-fly,” she said. “All the sets we did during the year, most of them were really focused on me doing well in the 200-fly. We definitely had a plan for the outcome.”

Guinee has put together consistent results this season on several relay squads.

She said the athletes that took part in the medley relay found success because of the relationships they built with each other.

“We always say that we think a relay does really good when four people on the relay really bond,” Guinee said. “The four of us just have a really special bond and we love doing that medley relay together.”

Guinee finished among the top three for most of the season in the 100-meter butterfly.

She notched her season-best time in the event Jan. 18, when she finished in 56.65 seconds.

With a 9-2 regular-season team record and a fifth-place finish at the Big East Championships, Guinee feels optimistic about the Knights going forward.

“I have to say, this is the most exciting year of college swimming I’ve ever had, and I really think we deserve everything we got this year,” she said. “We worked so hard and everybody on the team really believes in what we’re doing. I think that’s so essential to our success this year, and I think it just means we have great things in store for next year.”

At Rutgers’ conference quad meet from Feb. 8-9, Guinee finished with the top spot in the 100-meter butterfly.

As a walk-on last season, she took a pair of top-five finishes in the 200-yard butterfly and placed 11th overall at the Big East Championships.