Seton Hall University
Rider
Pirates Sink Broncs, 169-129
10/19/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
With the team victory, the Pirates improved to 2-0 on the young season and earned their third-straight win over Rider. SHU cruised to the win on the strength of 11 first place finishes in 16 events.
Seton Hall triumphed in nine different individual events as five different Pirates added wins to their résumé. Junior Kerrie Kolackovsky (Franklin Square, N.Y.) was the top performer on the night, touching the wall first in three events.
Kolackovsky started the night by outclassing the field in the 1,000-yard freestyle, finishing almost 17 seconds ahead of the second-place competitor with a time of 10:28.54. Later on, Kolackovsky took first place points in the 200-yard breaststroke and 500-yard freestyle while posting BIG EAST automatic qualifying times in both.
Junior Jane Ehret (Florida, N.Y.) joined her classmate as a winner of multiple events, clocking in first in the 200-yard butterfly and 200-yard individual medley. In the butterfly, Ehret out-touched reigning MAAC Female Swimmer of the Week Kelly O'Connor by .01 to capture a thrilling victory with an auto-qualifying time of 2:06.36. In the individual medley, her 2:13.26 effort was best by a margin of almost two seconds.
The New York native also qualified to compete in the 100-yard butterfly, finishing second behind O'Connor (59.31). Gabi Levine (Garwood, N.J.) came in less than a second after Ehret while junior Kelly Markwell (Old Bridge, N.J.) became the third Pirate of the night and fourth of the year to exceed qualifying standards in the event (1:00.22).
Senior Alie Zelenky (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) knifed her way through the water in the Coppola Pool on her way to a victory in the 50-yard freestyle (25.26), her second straight win in the event.
Freshman Megan Mallon (Glen Mills, Pa.) finished second behind Kolackovsky in the 200-yard breaststroke. It was her second top-two finish of the night as in the 100-yard breaststroke; Mallon earned the top spot and came in under the conference qualifying time. In her win, Mallon led a 1-2 Pirate finish as sophomore Megan Mostoller (Cheshire, Conn.) placed second in 1:10.85.
Senior Andrea Shuba (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and freshman Cora Meehan (Noblesville, Ind.) recorded second place finishes of their own, each turning in a pair of solid performances in backstroke events. Shuba was the runner-up at the 100-yard distance, getting to the wall in 1:00.40 to clinch a spot at the conference meet. Meehan finished fourth and also will be headed to Indianapolis after turning in a time of 1:01.06.
At the 200-yard distance, it was the freshman who placed second, followed by Shuba in third. Both Meehan (2:09.35) and Shuba (2:10.50) picked up their second qualifying time of the night in the process.
Freshman Rae Congdon (Ottawa, Ontario) produced the Pirates' best performance in the 100-yard freestyle, placing second in 55.53.
From the diving board, junior Katie Riley (Newburgh, N.Y.) was the class of the female competition. Riley won by more than 24 points from the one-meter board before taking a second victory from three-meters, earning an automatic qualifying score of 241.05. Freshman Gabby Signorelli (Massapequa, N.Y.) finished second from three-meters, scoring a 228.90 that was 23 points ahead of third place.
A pair of exciting relay victories bookended the meet for SHU as the Pirates opened the competition by edging Rider by three hundredths of a second in the 200-yard medley event. In the final race of the evening, SHU again swam to a close victory, winning by less than half a second in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Aside from the 11 wins, the team added four more BIG EAST qualifiers to increase its total to nine through two meets.
The Pirates will be back in action next weekend when they square off against Drexel, Lafayette and hosts Loyola (Md.) in a quad meet on Saturday, Oct. 27. Start-time is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. from Baltimore, Md.
