Rutgers gets back in pool for Justin Jennings Invite

After a fantastic finish to last week’s meet, the Rutgers swimming and diving team is heading off to face against the Colgate swimming and diving team this weekend. 

The Scarlet Knights, who finished seventh out of 14 teams, with a score of 81, in the CSCAA Open Water National Championships, are favorites in a match up against the Raiders who finished 14th in the last meet with a score of 184.

Rutgers are looking forward to its first meet against Colgate, as it is the first dual meet of the season for the team. 

After a top-10 finish last weekend on Lone Star Lake, junior Francesca Bertotto will hopefully carry her momentum forward as the Knights compete in this week’s meet. Bertotto, who holds the program record in the 500-meter freestyle, is expected to perform well for Rutgers at the Invite.

Sophomore Lily Black finished the Championships in 33rd place overall with a time of 1:06:41. 12. Not too far behind was senior Vera Koprivova with a time of 1:07:13.78, good for 38th place.

Then came senior Alexandra Fabugais-Inaba in 47th and freshman Katie Dougherty in 56th. 

Although it appears the Knights had wide spread results, this was expected, as each swimmer has their own specialty and not all of them are long distance swimmers. 

In fact, this will be helpful to the team, as the events this weekend will also be shorter, lending the favor toward Rutgers, as it hopes to get a win to start up the season.

Although last season the Knights lost their opening dual meet against Florida Gulf Coast 199-116, Rutgers hopes to start things over and turn a new leaf this year. The Knights went on to win 3 of their 5 team meets against teams, such as Illinois and Chicago. 

Although it is not dependable to look at a season’s results to compare to a season that is just beginning, it does display that Rutgers will start off strong and has a good chance of beating the Raiders in Hamilton, N.Y.

The Knights have not faced off against Colgate much in recent years, which should make for an exciting event.

Although it is only the beginning of the season, Rutgers shows massive potential going into this dual matchup against the Raiders, as well as the rest of the season, with a strong group of swimmers speeding through the way.

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