Seton Hall University
Iona
Women's Swim & Dive Handles Iona, 181-108
11/14/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Nov. 14, 2013
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. - Competing for the fourth time in 11 days, all of which have been away from home, the Seton Hall women's swimming & diving team showed no signs of slowing down as the Pirates flew past Iona on Monday night, scoring a 181-108 victory after recording the top performance in 12 of 16 events.
Eight different team members captured the top spot in 11 different events while The Hall also claimed first in the meet-opening 200-yard medley relay as well.
In the first swimming event of the evening, freshmen Melody Bush (Guelph, Ontario) and Tessa Lindner (Sun Prairie, Wisc.) joined sophomore Megan Mallon (Glen Mills, Pa.) and senior Kerrie Kolackovsky (Franklin Square, N.Y.) on head coach Ron Farina's A squad.
Heading into the final leg, the Pirates were off the pace being set by Iona's top quartet but Kolackovsky turned in a final 50-yards that was over .6 seconds faster than the Gaels' Katie Nevins to claim the win.
Kolackovsky also produced what has become a routinely dominant performance as an individual, clocking the fastest time of the night in all three events she entered. In the 200-yard freestyle, each one of her splits was the fastest in the field as she cruised to a win with a time of 1:55.14. Classmate Kate Dwyer (Freehold, N.J.) placed third, reaching the wall in 2:01.44.
In the 200-breast, Kolackovsky and Mallon occupied the top-two slots, as they have so often this year, registering times of 2:25.05 and 2:31.09 respectively. The senior capped her day with the fastest 200-IM effort of the meet, outpacing the field by more than four seconds with a 2:08.78 mark.
The Franklin Square native was one of two team members to post multiple victories against IC as Gabi Levine (Garwood, N.J.) swam her way to first place in both sprint freestyle events. In the 50-yard race, Levine powered her way to the finish; out-touching Nevins by .01 seconds to win with a time of 25.72 seconds.
In the 100-yard freestyle, she led one of five all-Pirate top-threes as her time of 55.48 was followed by Lindner in second (56.14) and freshman Madison Harris (Ocala, Fla.) in third (56.28).
The remaining four SHU sweeps of the top-three positions all featured a freshman in first-place. Lindner led the way in the 100-fly with the only sub-60 second time of the race (59.20) while sophomores Rae Congdon (Ottawa, Ontario) and Kelly Miller (State College, Pa.) placed second and third.
Junior Sarah Dougherty (Waterford, N.Y.) and sophomore Leah Mayer (London, Ontario) each contributed to a pair of Seton Hall sweeps, picking up one second and one third-place finish apiece. Erica Naumann (Middletown, Conn.) completed the 1,000-free over 15 seconds faster than her closest competitor from Iona (11:04.43), followed by Mayer (11:12.13) and Dougherty (11:16.33).
Cece Henry (St. Charles, Mo.) took home the 200-fly race with a 2:12.15 effort while Dougherty placed second (2:18.00) and Mayer reached the wall third in 2:19.15.
Another freshman in Kelsey Buonaiuto (Miller Place, N.Y.) out-swam the Gaels' top finisher by over nine seconds in the 200-back, leading a trio that included Alexa Santis (Ijamsville, Md.) and Kelly Miller (State College, Pa.) to the finish by clocking a 2:12.52.
Seton Hall's diving duo of senior Katie Riley (Newburgh, N.Y.) and sophomore Gabby Signorelli (Massapequa, N.Y.) continued what has been a banner year for head coach P.J. Hughes and the Seton Hall divers, placing in the top-two form both boards.
Signorelli recorded the highest score of the day on the women's side, tallying 254.70 points over six dives from three-meters. Riley placed second at three-meters after opening the meet with a score of 234.82 that was tops in one-meter competition.
Both Riley and Signorelli have earned their way to the BIG EAST Championship at both distances while also booking spots at the NCAA Zone A Championships for the first time in their respective careers.
The team will close fall competition next week when the Pirates head to Fairfax, Va. to compete at the Patriot Invitational over three-straight days at the Patriot Invitational hosted by George Mason.
