Seton Hall University
Patriot Invitational
WS&D Starts Strong at Patriot
11/16/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
FAIRFAX, VA. - Carry an unblemished 7-0 dual meet record into the final competition of 2012, the Seton Hall women's swimming and diving team finished day one at the Patriot Invitational locked in a tie for fifth place.
SHU and UNC-Wilmington are knotted at 124 points in the middle of a 10-team field. Ohio University is in first after a 317-point output on Thursday.
The day kicked off with a series of preliminaries leading into finals during the night session.
In the 500-yard freestyle, senior Brenna O'Keefe (Hyde Park, N.Y.) was the top performer for the Pirates, twice coming in under her previous personal best on the day. O'Keefe placed 12th in the morning to earn a second swim at night, where she finished 15th overall with a new personal record mark of 5:07.92.
Also in the 500-yard freestyle, freshman Katie Adams (Linwood, N.J.) qualified for the 2013 BIG EAST Championships with a prelim time of 5:15.30 (26th). Sophomore Sarah Dougherty (Waterford, N.Y.) also set a new personal best by coming in at 5:19.44.
Junior Kerrie Kolackovsky (Franklin Square, N.Y.) produced the highest individual finish of the day for The Hall, coming in third overall (2:05.03) and improving her team-best time in the event this season by over five seconds.
Senior Andrea Shuba (Pittsburgh, Pa.) (2:09.09) and freshman Cora Meehan (Noblesville, Ind.)(2:09.16) also picked up valuable points in the event, finishing 10th and 11th respectively. With their times, Shuba and Meehan added the 200-IM to their collection of BIG EAST automatic qualifying times. Junior Jane Ehret (Florida, N.Y.) also reached the wall under the qualifying mark, posting a time of 2:12.90 to place 25th.
Seton Hall also now has its qualifier in the 50-yard freestyle for the conference meet, as Gabi Levine (Garwood, N.J.) paced the team in the event. Levine made the mark in her first swim of the day with a time of 24.89 and went on to finish 23rd overall in the finals. Rae Congdon (Ottawa, Ontario) swam a 25.05 to improve her personal best so far this season.
Freshman diver Gabby Signorelli (Massapequa, N.Y.) emerged from an initial field of 20 divers in three-meter competition to advance to the finals thanks to a 234.60 effort. Her second dive set landed SHU eighth place points as Seton Hall was one of just three teams to score in the event.
The Pirates also captured valuable points with strong finishes from each entry in the 200-yard freestyle and 400-yard medley relays.
In the 200-yard freestyle, Seton Hall picked up 36 points with seventh and 11th place finishes. Senior Alie Zelenky (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) powered the seventh place effort with a BIG EAST qualifying time of 24.70 in the opening leg. Zelenky teamed with Kolackovsky, Congdon and Levine to clock in at 1:38.50, the team's fastest effort of the year.
Kolackovsky and Levine were also members of a 400-yard medley relay squad that finished sixth. With help from Shuba and Kelly Markwell (Old Bridge, N.J.), the team recorded a 3:52.91 mark. SHU's second top-10 squad featured Meehan, Ehret, Zelenky and freshman Megan Mallon (Glen Mills, Pa.) who together finished ninth in 3:58.90.
In total, the women's squad turned in five new BIG EAST automatic qualifying times on day one with Adams and Zelenky becoming the 11th and 12th team members to punch tickets.
Friday will mark day two of the three-day event as action will resume with the 400-yard individual medley prelims. Start-time is set for approximately 10:00 a.m.
