Rutgers’ Martyna Piesko Downs 41-Year-Old Pool Record in Loss to Nebraska
Rutgers’ Martyna Piesko set a pool record at the University of Nebraska’s Devaney Pool Saturday, downing the 1983 mark set at NCAAs by Jill Sterkel.
It was one of three pool records set, with the host Cornhuskers downing a pair of relay marks to win, 240-113, in a Big Ten dual meet stretched over two days.
Piesko went 53.11 in the 100 butterfly. That ties Piesko’s best time and is third in program history. But it also downs the time of 53.54 used by Sterkel in 1983 to win the NCAA title for Texas. In the intervening 41 years, no one has covered 100 yards of butterfly so fast in Devaney Pool.
Nebraska set two pool marks in relays during the meet. Sarah Barton, JoJo Randby, Beatrix Tanko and Anna Vlachou went 3:39.59 to win the 400 medley relay. Tanko, Vlachou, Giulia Marchi and Emily Haimes went 3:23.46 in the 400 free relay to down another record. Both of those pool marks belonged to Rutgers from the meet in Lincoln in 2022 when the Scarlet Knights downed residual records from that 1983 NCAAs (Florida in the 400 medley, Texas in the 400 free).
The Huskers won all four relays. Barton, Randby, Tanko and Haimes took the 200 medley to start the meet, then Tanko, Randby, Vlachou and Haimes won the 200 free.
The Nebraska sprinters reigned supreme, the Huskers sweeping the podium in the 50, 100 and 200 free.
Randby went 23.65 to edge Haimes by .01 in the 50, with Caitlin Cairns following. Marchi went 50.67 to win the 100 free ahead of Haimes and Vlachou. She was a quarter-second behind Tanko (1:50.73) in the 200 free.
At the other end of the spectrum was Genevieve Jorgenson. She won the 500 free in 4:45.16 and the 1,650 free in 16:21.87, with teammate Caterina Bisiacchi second in both. Jorgenson’s time of 4:20.94 was tops in the 400 individual medley, with Barton second. Likewise the 200 backstroke, Jorgenson going 1:58.17 to get the best of Barton by .22 seconds.
Barton won the 100 back in 54.84. Randby added a second win by going 1:01.62 in the 100 breaststroke. Maia Hall claimed the 200 breast, and Anastasia Tichy was tops in the 200 fly.
In addition to Piesko, Rutgers won both diving events. Giulia Vittorioso was four points ahead of teammate Holly Prasanto in 1-meter with a tally of 277.35. Amelia Scott prevailed on 3-meter with 331.95 points.
Elysha Pribadi won the 200 IM in 2:01.65, handing Barton an agonizing second-place finish by .07 seconds, and then was third in the 200 breast. Tina Celik was second in both breaststroke events.