WOMEN
The unbeaten Seton Hall women’s swimming & diving team competed within friendly confines for this first time this season on Saturday and the Pirates powered their way to 11 event victories in a decisive 177-103 defeat of BIG EAST rival Providence.
The result improved The Hall to 6-0 on the women’s side to this point in the year and Saturday’s meet saw the squad record two relay wins to go with nine individual first-place finishes that were split among seven different team members.
Seton Hall recorded the three fastest times in the 200-medley relay to begin the competition with the victorious quartet of Melody Bush (Guelph, Ontario), Megan Mallon (Glen Mills, Pa.) Tessa Lindner (Sun Prairie, Wisc.) and Kat Carson (Katy, Texas) setting the tone with a 1:50.18 mark that was over three seconds ahead of the Friars’ top squad.
Bush, Mallon and Carson all added their own first-place performances during the meet as well; contributing to the Pirates’ dominance throughout the afternoon.
After recording two impressive victories at Loyola (MD) last week, Bush claimed top honors in the 200-free (1:56.68), beating PC standout Katherine Fallon to the wall, before picking up another winning time in the 200-back by touching in at 2:08.58.
Mallon led three Seton Hall competitors in the top-four of the 200-breast event, recording a final mark of 2:30.06. Freshman Courtney Regan (Southbury, Conn.) took third in 2:34.56 and was followed to the finish by teammate Maddie Harris (Ocala, Fla.) (2:38.45).
In the 50-free race, Carson continued her emergence as the Pirates’ top sprint threat, clocking in at 24.77 and pacing a trio of scorers from The Hall in the event that also included Isabelle Alario (Hermosa Beach, Calif.) and Lindner who placed fourth and fifth respectively.
Another newcomer who has come on to routinely contribute first-place efforts early this fall is Kylene Ronayne (Springfield, Pa.) and in her first home appearance the Springfield native did not disappoint. Ronayne opened her program with a victorious effort in the 100-back, clocking in at 1:01.23 after out-dueling Providence senior Moira James (1:01.95) at the finish.
Paige Anderson and Cora Meehan (Noblesville, Ind.) chipped in fourth and fifth-place times behind Ronayne.
The final individual race of the afternoon was the 400-IM and trailing by nearly three-tenths of a second heading into the final leg, Ronayne shot past Helen Smith of the Friars and earned another win with a time of 4:43.02, edging Smith by .27 seconds.
Sydney Simpson (Tallahassee, Fla.) scored another win for a talented freshman class making its home debut by posting a 59.31 in the 100-fly while Lindner earned third-place points in the event.
While the fresh faces thrived; a veteran more than familiar with the Arthur E. Imperatore Natatorium also made a triumphant return to competition in South Orange. Forced to sit out the 2013-14 campaign, senior Jane Ehret (Florida, N.Y.) headlined a Seton Hall sweep of the top-two spots in the 200-fly, collecting a time of 2:12.25. Sophomore Cece Henry (St. Charles, Mo.) claimed second in 2:15.30.
Not to be outdone by her teammates in the pool, junior diver Gabby Signorelli (Massapequa, N.Y.) delivered a season-best score of 286.50 from the one-meter board, coming within six points of the school record and earning a trip back to the NCAAA Zone Diving Championships in the process.
To put an exclamation mark on the performance, Bush, Carson and Ronayne teamed with freshman Sam Shirtliff (Camp Hill, Pa.) to close the meet with a win in the 200-free relay after finishing in 1:40.46.
The Pirates will get another crack at BIG EAST opposition as well as rival Rutgers when they travel to Piscataway to take on Georgetown, Villanova and the Scarlet Knights at a two-day quad meet. Competition will begin at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, November 7 and continue the following day.
MEN
The Seton Hall men’s swimming & diving team picked up its fifth victory of the 2014-15 campaign on Saturday, thoroughly out-classing the visiting Providence Friars in a 181-93 win.
The Pirates (5-1) posted the top performance in 15 of 16 events that were held during the dual meet but arguably none were more impressive or impactful than the six-dive set turned in by senior standout Ben Mitchell (Milford, Pa.) from the three-meter diving board.
At this point in his decorated career, it is known that Mitchell is a threat to re-write his own school record each time he climbs the ladder. In what was The Hall’s home debut, the Milford native out-did himself yet again, putting on a show of precision and skill unrivaled by any in program history.
When the scores were tallied, Mitchell was credited with a 374.02 mark that shattered the previous standard. As a point of reference, his Saturday score exceeded the level needed to qualify for the NCAA meet by more than 50 points and was one of two 300-plus point performances he registered on the day after he took first from one-meter with score of 314.62.
Sophomore Alex Pfisterer (Mohnton, Pa.) was the runner-up in one-meter competition with a score of 286.65 while teammate Eric Davidson (Overland Park, Kan.) placed third 269.32.
The dominant showing from above the water mirrored what took place in the pool as along with 15 first-place efforts; SHU occupied every one of the top-three spots in eight more events besides one-meter diving.
The 200-medley relay squad of Keith Carlino (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.), Sean Sali (Bridgewater, N.J.), Zach DeLillo (Sinking Spring, Pa.) and Tim Bosse (New Windsor, N.Y.) got it started with a victorious mark of 1:34.84.
Bosse, Carlino and DeLillo were also part of a 200-free team that included Jason Tan (Bridgewater, N.J.) and led the way with a time of 1:27.01 as The Hall bookended the meet with sweeps of the top-three positions.
In 200-breast competition, Sali clocked in at 2:12.28, edging teammate James Logan (Wallingford, Pa.) (2:12.71) at the finish while fellow newcomer Collin Dunn (Litchfield, Conn.) took third in 2:15.20.
Sali and Dunn also recorded top-three finishes in the 100-back, a race won by classmate Zohar Suslovich (Holon, Israel) who set the pace at 58.37.
The lone Pirate swimmer on the men’s side to record a victory at the Loyola (MD) quad meet, freshman Noah Yanchulis (Arnold, Md.) beat DeLillo and Matt Zebrowski (Sayreville, N.J.) to the wall in the 100-fly (51.66), besting DeLillo by .07 seconds.
Zebrowski and DeLillo were also at the center of a commanding performance in the 200-fly as the Sayreville native earned top honors with a time of 1:55.91, nearly five seconds ahead of Seth Underwood (Collegeville, Pa.) and DeLillo in second and third respectively.
Underwood also ranked third in the 500-free, clocking in behind teammates Cody Wimmer (Macungie, Pa.) (4:49.70) and Bosse (4:51.87).
The win continued a run of success for Wimmer in distance events as the freshman also teamed with Ian Campbell (Corvallis, Ore.) to record the two fastest times in the 1,000-free with Wimmer claiming first in 10:01.69, nearly 18 seconds ahead of Campbell and 0 seconds in front of Providence’s top finisher, Zack Begnaud.
The 1,000-free was the first of three consecutive 1-2 finishes for the Seton Hall men as Yanchulis (1:42.97) and Bosse (1:45.35) replicated the feat in the 200-free as did Carlino (53.20) and freshman Michael Mattera (Deer Park, N.Y.) (54.37) in the 100-back.
Logan and Tan also claimed the top-two spots in the 50-free with respective times of 22.19 and 22.39 to make it 13 events in which Providence finished no higher than third.
Tan added a victory in the 100-free (48.72) while sophomores Cooper Lindsley (Lancaster, Pa.) and Colin Machat (Easthampton, Mass.) recorded third and fourth-place finishes.
Suslovich also out-paced the 200-back field (1:55.61) and was supported by Carlino in third and Mattera in fourth.
The Pirates will get another crack at BIG EAST opposition when they travel to Piscataway to take on Georgetown and Villanova at a two-day tri meet hosted by Rutgers. Competition will begin at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, November 7 and continue the following day.
College Swimming News courtesy of Seton Hall.