Rutgers Welcomes Princeton Saturday For The Annual Battle For The Cannon Trophy

Courtesy: Rutgers Athletics

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers women’s swimming & diving will be the hosts of the annual Battle For The Cannon Trophy when Princeton comes to the Rutgers Aquatics Center on Saturday, Nov. 12. The meet begins at noon.

Fans can register for parking here.

THE CANNON WAR STORY

• Rutgers and Princeton will be swimming and diving for the Cannon Trophy, named in honor of the Rutgers-Princeton Cannon War.
• The origin of the Rutgers-Princeton Cannon War dates to 1777 when two cannons from the British army were left on the campus of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) after the battle of Princeton during the Revolutionary War.
• The cannons remained near the campus until the larger of the two was put to use during the War of 1812 and moved to New Brunswick to protect the city.
• A dispute over cannon ownership ensued at some point, and the cannon eventually wound up back in Princeton, where it was placed, in the ground, on Princeton’s campus on the site that is now called “Cannon Green.”
• On the night of April 25, 1875, ten members of the Rutgers Class of 1877 set out to steal back “Big Cannon” from Princeton However, they were unable to move it, so instead they returned to New Brunswick with “Little Cannon”.
• Eventually, a joint committee settled the matter, and “Little Cannon” was returned to Princeton, however, Rutgers students have been known to travel the 17 miles to the Princeton campus to paint the cannon red.

BATTLE FOR THE CANNON TROPHY HISTORY

All-Time Battle For The Cannon Trophy Results
2019 – Rutgers – 163-137
2021 – Princeton – 186-114

• The first Battle for the Cannon trophy was hosted by the Scarlet Knights at the Rutgers Aquatics Center on Nov. 15, 2019 with RU claiming the trophy with a 163-137 victory.
• Sofia Chichaikina picked up wins in the 100 free, 200 fly and joined teammate Giulia Ghidini in resetting the Rutgers Aquatics Center record in the 200 free relay in 1:31.75.
• Last season, Princeton hosted the meet with the Tigers taking a 186-114 victory at DeNunzio Pool.
• The Scarlet Knights went 1-2-3 on 1-meter and 3-meter with Savana Trueb capturing a then career-best on 3-meter scoring. 325.43. Sofia Lobova captured two victories for the Scarlet Knights with top times in the 50 free and 100 free and a runner-up performance with the 200 free relay. Alice Scarabelli  won the100 back and took second in the 200 back. Sofia Chichaikina was the runner-up in three events – 200 free, 200 fly and 200 free relay.

AROUND THE BIG TEN

• Rutgers split last weekend with a 169-131 setback at defending Ivy League champion Harvard while following up the next day with 168-128 victory at Northeastern.
• Against the Crimson, the Scarlet Knights earned victories in nine of 16 events including the 500 & 1000 free, 100 & 200 breast, 100 back, 200 fly, 200 medley relay, 400 free relay and on 1-meter. Madison Murtagh moved further up the all-time 1000 free list with her first-place finish. She dropped 7.21 seconds off the previous week’s time against Purdue to hit the wall in 9:59.21 and climb to fourth all-time in the event at Rutgers. She won the event with a 23.24-second margin of victory. earned her second win of the night in the 500 free with a 7.21-second gap between her and second place. She logged a time of 4:55.34.
•  Against the Huskies, RU was victorious in 11 of 16 events going 1-2-3 on 1-meter and in the 200 free while taking the top two spots in 1000 free, 100 and 200 fly and 100 and 200 breast.  Holly Prasanto won 1-meter with a score of 289.13,  the 10^th-best performance by a Scarlet Knight in history. It marked the second-straight weekend she has logged a top 10 score having captured the eighth-best score in RU history on 3-meter against Purdue.

AROUND THE BIG TEN

• Madison Murtagh’s winning time of 9:59.00 against Harvard last weekend that placed her fourth in the RU record books is currently fifth in the Big Ten.
• Holly Prasanto’s first-place score of 316.95 on 3-meter against Purdue places her seventh in the Big Ten.
• Alice Scarabelli’s first-place time of 54.71 against Purdue in the 100 back is seventh among league competitors.
• Rachel Kimmel, who won the 200 breast versus the Boilermakers clocking in at 2:15.83 for the eighth fastest time at RU, is currently eighth in the event in the Big Ten.

B1G AWARDS

• Freshman Martyna Piesko was named the Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Week on Nov. 2. She becomes the fourth Scarlet Knight to earn the rookie weekly award since Rutgers joined the Big Ten in 2014-15. The first-year Scarlet Knight won the 200 back with one of the top times at Rutgers, was a part of the winning 200 medley relay squad and was runner-up in four other events as she helped the Scarlet Knights to their first-ever victory over Purdue. Piesko won the 200 back in 1:59.48 marking the eighth fastest time in the Rutgers record book with a 3.31-second margin of victory. The time is currently the 11^th fastest in the Big Ten. The Lublin, Poland native also swam anchor on the 200 medley relay squad that won with a time of 1:43.02 The rookie also captured runner-up finishes in the 100 back in 55.70 and as a member of the 200 free relay (1:34.14), 400 free relay (3:26.94) and 400 medley relay (3:50.81). The 400 free relay was edged out of first place by .17 seconds.

LAST YEAR IN THE WATER

• Rutgers returns 16 letterwinners from last season including Big Ten Podium finishers Tina Celik (200 & 400 medley relay), Sofia Chichiakina (200 free, 400 & 800 free relay, 400 medley relay), Giulia Ghidini (200 & 800 free relay, 200 medley relay), Sofia Lobova (200 & 400 free relay, 200 & 400 medley relay), Alice Scarabelli (200 free, 200, 400 & 800 free relay, 200 & 400 medley relay), and Savana Trueb (3-meter).
• The Scarlet Knights fostered a deeper squad for the 2021-22 season after a covid-shorten 2020-21 campaign and continued to make huge strides in the water. Rutgers captured its highest Big Ten Championship finish since joining the Big Ten eight years ago and finished 26th at the NCAA Championships, the highest finish for the Scarlet Knights since 2006.
• Altogether the Scarlet Knights produced 10 podium finishes at the championships. Seven new Rutgers school records were established and 28 times/scores were recorded among the all-time top 10. Nine NCAA “B” cuts were collected, while six divers were sent to NCAA Zones.
• On the boards, Rutgers sent two divers to the NCAA Championships producing an All-American with a finalist on platform and consolation round performer on 3-meter. At NCAA Zones, Savana Trueb was a runner-up on platform and finished third on 1-meter and fourth on 3-meter.
• At the 2022 Big Ten Championships, the 800 freestyle relay reset the oldest record in the Rutgers history books breaking a 16-year record by 3.70 seconds.
• The diving corps also made a splash with nine scores among the top 10, including resetting an eight-year-old platform record twice.

SUMMER WITH THE SCARLET KNIGHTS

• Tina Celik swam to first place times in the 50 and 100 breast and 200 IM at the Borac Telegroup Grand Challenge in July while at the Slovenian Open Championship in August, had the top times in the 50 and 100 breast, was the runner-up in the 100 fly and placed third in the 50 fly.
• Savanna Trueb is a member of the USA Diving High Performance – Tier 3 Senior squad. The senior was slated to be on the US roster for the 2022 World University Games this summer before competition was postponed until 2023. Last December, Trueb took seventh on platform at the USA Diving Winter Nationals and at the USA Diving Open Championship in August placed seventh on platform and 16th on 3-meter.
• Rachel Kimmel won the 100 breast at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club (NBAC) Mid-Summer Classic to qualify for nationals. Her performance of 1:10.36 broke the 17-year-old pool record held by six-time Olympian and former 100-meter breast world record-holder Rebecca Soni. Soni also holds ties to Rutgers as the Freehold, New Jersey native swam club at the Sonny Werblin Aquatic Center with Scarlet Aquatics. Kimmel finished 18th at the Phillips 66 National Championships in July
• Holly Prasanto advanced to the Women’s 1M Springboard final at the 2022 British Diving Championships in late May. She was among the top 10 divers and top eight British qualifiers to reach finals. During finals, Prasanto placed fourth among her countrywomen with a score of 238.05.
• The 2022 Italian Spring Championships in April saw Alice Scarabelli hit the wall as the runner-up in the A final of the 200 free and was 0.34 seconds behind champion Alice Mizzau, a 2012 Olympic qualifier.

R SMART

• Rutgers women’s swimming and diving has earned 17-straight College Swimming Coaches Association of America Scholar All-American Team Awards.
• The Scarlet Knights boasted a 3.54 grade point average during the 2021-22 academic year, the third-best among Big Ten programs. Rutgers swimmers and divers collected eight 4.0 GPAs during the spring semester and 17 Scarlet Knights registered a grade point average above a 3.5 with 13 receiving Dean’s List recognition.
• Six Scarlet Knights were also bestowed CSCAA Scholar All-American distinctions including returning members Tina Celik, Sofia Chichiakina, Jenna Douglass and Alice Scarabelli. Each achieved a 3.5 grade point average or higher while collecting NCAA B cuts or advancing to NCAA Zone diving competition.

UP NEXT

• Rutgers is back home for the annual Battle For The Cannon Trophy with in-state rival Princeton on Saturday, Nov. 12 at the Rutgers Aquatics Center at noon.
• Admission is free.