Rutgers Olympic Sports: Winter into Spring update with UPDATED MLAX Rankings

Men's Lacrosse remains in Top 20

It's official! Denver is the new No. 1 in the @Inside_Lacrosse Top 20: https://t.co/XAJwBnKvdx #ncaaLAX pic.twitter.com/fWQ4kbqGBz

— NCAA Lacrosse (@NCAA_Lax) March 14, 2016

Indoor Track & Field

After earning multiple awards at the Big Ten Championships, freshman Izaiah Brown did not compete at the NCAA Championships due to injury.  Corey Crawford did, however, and captured his third First Team All-America designation, finishing eighth in the long jump with a distance of 7.59m (24' 11") during the 2016 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Birmingham, Ala.

On the women's side, Gabrielle Farquharson placed 14th in the 200m at the 2016 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships securing the fourth All-America honor of her career.  Farquharson raced to a time of 23.49 in Friday's semifinals with .028 seconds separating 12th through 15th place. With her 14th place finish, Farquharson will earn Second Team All-America status in the event.

Gymnastics

Tenths of a point.  Hundredths of a point.  Such are the subtleties of scoring in gymnastics.  Those tiny numbers often separate the winners and losers, first from fifth place.  The growth of a competitor - or a team - can also be measured in those decimals.  So it goes with Rutgers.

Lifted by performances from its five seniors, Rutgers gymnastics scored a 195.050 to win a quad meet a week ago at the Livingston Gym. The Scarlet Knights topped the 195-mark for the third time this season, beating Towson (192.775), Southern Connecticut State (190.725) and West Chester (188.475) to make it 11 victories in 2016.

"I thought this was our best performance of the year," head coach Louis Levine said. "We did a great job from start to finish. It is great to go out with a win, especially for the seniors. They did an excellent job, all five of them. Overall, this is a score that can help us reach NCAA Regionals."

Closing out regular season competition in the Big Five Qualifier at Penn State this past weekend, Rutgers gymnastics reached 49.025 on both floor exercise and vault on the way to scoring a 194.550 Saturday inside Rec Hall. The Scarlet Knights' team performance was an improvement from last season's 194.150 in the same meet.

3/19/16

at Big Ten Championships * on BTN

Lincoln, Neb.

Noon ET

Swimming

Junior Alyssa Black and sophomore Addison Walkowiak will both represent Rutgers at the 2016 NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving after recording qualifying scores at the Zone Championships last week.

Walkowiak finished second in the 1-meter with a score of 584.20, just 1.4 points behind the first-place recipient. This will be Walkowiak's second-consecutive NCAA Championships appearance after qualifying for last year's NCAA's in both the 1-meter and 3-meter dives.  Black concluded third in the event with a score of 582.20. For Black, this will be her first-career NCAA appearance.

In the 3-meter event, Walkowiak's score of 658.00 was more than 16 points higher than the next-best finisher, securing her place in 3-meter diving at the NCAA's. This will be Walkowiak's second-consecutive NCAA Championships appearance in 3-meter diving after qualifying for last year's NCAA event.  Black concluded fifth in the event with a score of 597.80. For Black, this will be her first-career NCAA appearance.

Black and Walkowiak join freshman Francesca Stoppa as athletes who will represent the Rutgers swimming and diving program at NCAAs. Stoppa will compete in the 100 and 200 butterfly events during the championships, which take place March 17-19 in Atlanta, Ga.

Softball

Playing against teams that are playing almost year round is a challenge.  Both diamond squads face that as Northeast teams travel to warm weather regions to start their respective seasons.  Softball, though, despite a losing record, has now won seven of their last ten games to move to 9-14 after winning three of five at the Florida Atlantic Tournament over the weekend.  They wrapped up the tourney with a 6-0 complete game shutout over UMass.  Junior Shayla Sweeney registered the complete game as senior Stephanie Huang and junior Carly Todd recorded three hits each to lead the Scarlet Knights. Huang registered her first triple of the season as one of three hits to tie her career best. Todd also reset her career high with three hits in the win.

Florida Atlantic Tournament
3/11/16	vs. LIU Brooklyn	Boca Raton, Fla.	W, 2-1
	vs. Mercer	Boca Raton, Fla.	W, 5-4
3/12/16	vs. Robert Morris	Boca Raton, Fla.	L, 5-4 (8)
	at Florida Atlantic	Boca Raton, Fla.	L, 7-1
3/13/16	vs. Massachusetts	Boca Raton, Fla.	W, 6-0
3/15/16	at Florida International	Miami, Fla.	5:00 p.m. ET
	at Florida International	Miami, Fla.	7:00 p.m. ET

Baseball

Baseball fell to 6-8 after dropping two-of-three to No. 16 Florida Atlantic, winning the middle game of the set on Saturday with a hard-fought 5-4 victory over FAU Saturday at FAU Baseball Stadium. It marked the first win for the Scarlet Knights over a ranked opponent this season and first on the road versus a top-25 team since knocking off then-No. 7 Louisville, 11-2, on March 23, 2014.

Redshirt junior Kyle Driscoll turned in an effective outing with two earned runs and five hits allowed over 5.1 innings. The right-hander struck out a season-high five batters in 94 pitches. Freshman Dante Scafidi (2-0) followed out of the bullpen to a bases-loaded jam, but induced an inning-ending double play to eventually earn his second win of the season.

Rutgers reached 10 hits for the fifth time this season, with seven of the nine starters marking the column. Senior R.J. Devish, fifth-year senior Chris Suseck and freshman (also football player) Jawuan Harris all had had two singles, while junior Tom Marcinczyk tripled and freshman Carmen Sclafani doubled.

3/11/16	at Florida Atlantic	Boca Raton, Fla.	L, 9-8
3/12/16	at Florida Atlantic	Boca Raton, Fla.	W, 5-4
3/13/16	at Florida Atlantic	Boca Raton, Fla.	L, 3-2
3/15/16	at Florida Gulf Coast	Fort Myers, Fla.	6:30 p.m. ET
3/16/16	at Florida Gulf Coast	Fort Myers, Fla.	6:30 p.m. ET
3/18/16	at Navy	Annapolis, Md.	2:00 p.m. ET
3/19/16	vs. NJIT	Annapolis, Md.	10:00 a.m. ET

Men's Lacrosse

Rutgers' undefeated season came to abrupt end when the No. 16 Knights traveled to Stony Brook to take on the No. 18 Sea Wolves on Saturday.  After a quick start by the visitors, Stony Brook (4-1) came storming back to take the 15-6 win.  Christian Trasolini led Rutgers with two goals and two assists. Adam Charalambides also scored twice, while Scott Bieda had a goal and an assist. 

Adam Charalambides has had at least two goals in every game this season.  Scott Bieda extended his point streak (26 games) and goal streak (14 games). Each of those streaks is among the 10 longest in the nation.

3/11/16	at Stony Brook	Stony Brook, N.Y.	L, 15-6
3/14/16	at Princeton	Princeton, N.J.	7:00 p.m. ET

Women's Lacrosse

A 1-6 start is not how the season was supposed to go.  Facing three ranked teams in the non-conference schedule didn't help.  The 16-9 loss to Temple last week marked the sixth straight loss for the Knights after winning their opener against Villanova, 14-8 back on February 12.

Rutgers was led in scoring by junior midfielder Kristina Dunphey, who recorded her second game this season of at least four goals and fifth multi-goal effort overall. She leads the Scarlet Knights with 17 goals this season.  Contributing a multi-goal game to the attack along with Dunphey was senior attack Kim Kolodny with two scores - her fourth multi-goal effort this season.

RU's next two games - both out of conference - are at home.

3/16/16	vs. Lafayette	High Point Solutions Stadium	7:00 p.m. ET
3/19/16	vs. James Madison	High Point Solutions Stadium	12:00 p.m. ET