EAST MEADOW, NY – The Rutgers men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams both find themselves in second place after 11 events at the first day of competition at the 2003 BIG EAST Championships on Thursday at the Nassau County Aquatics Center.

The men earned 170.5 points, placing behind Pittsburgh, while the women garnered 165 points to finish behind Notre Dame.

After breaking the BIG EAST Championship record in the 50-yard freestyle prelims during the morning session, Matt Campbell (Haddonfield, NJ) lowered his time during the finals, swimming the event in a school-record time of 19.79 to finish first.

The 200-yard freestyle relay team of Mike Kush (Wescosville, PA), Ivan Morse (Pleasanton, CA), Ryan Campbell (Haddonfield, NJ) and Matt Campbell earned the victory for the Scarlet Knights, swimming the event in a school-record time of 1:20.12

The men’s 500-yard freestyle event saw Sean Smith (Oklahoma City, OK) finish second with a time of 4:25.99. During the morning’s preliminary competition, he set a new Rutgers school-record, swimming the event in 4:24.20.

On the women’s side, freshman Kelly Harrigan (Bristol, CT) earned an NCAA qualifying time on her way to a second place finish in the 500-yard freestyle. Her time of 4:43.69 is a new Rutgers school record. Erin McIntyre (Broomfield, CO) placed fifth in the event with a time of 4:50.88.

The 400-yard medley relay team of Harrigan, Katie Kuczmarkski (Wilmington, DE), Michelle DeFreese (Rahway, NJ), and Casmera Wick (Longmont, CO) took top honors with a school-record time of 3:42.25.

Kelly Roche (Redding,CA), Wick, DeFreese, and Ruth Nichols (Raleigh, NC) placed second in the 200-yard freestyle relay with a time of 1:33.32, breaking the RU record.

Wick broke the school record in the 50-yard freestyle event with a time of 23.44 during the prelims. She finished fourth in the event, one spot ahead of Roche.

In the women’s three-meter diving event, Kelly Gerhardstein (Sandusky, OH) placed seventh with a finals score of 366.60. She registered a score of 387.90 during the prelims.

Both the men and the women will be back in action on Friday with preliminaries set for 10:30 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m.