Seton Hall University
2013 BIG EAST Championship
Pirates Set Two Records on Day One
2/28/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
The night session kicked-off with the women's 800-yard freestyle relay. In just their second crack at the event this season, junior Kerrie Kolackovsky (Franklin Square, N.Y.) and a trio of freshmen in Rae Congdon (Ottawa, Ontario), Leah Mayer (London, Ontario) and Cora Meehan (Noblesville, Ind.) turned in a ninth-place time of 7:38.05, edging the previous program-best time of 7:38.86, set in 2010-11.
Kolackovsky jumpstarted the effort with an opening-leg split of 1:51.05, breaking former BIG EAST champion Carla Stetter's 17-year old school record of 1:52.50 in the process.
Kolackovsky now hold four individual school records, more than any other Pirate in program history. Earlier this season, Kolackovsky broke her own school record in the 100-yard breaststroke and has also set the standard in the 200-breast and 1,650-free. The Franklin Square product is also a member of three record-holding relay squads and has now set a new school mark in all three of her trips to the conference championships.
The Pirates nearly set another record in the other relay event of the evening as Kolackovsky teamed with Andrea Shuba (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Kelly Markwell (Old Bridge, N.J.) and Alie Zelenky (Mechanicsburg, Pa.) to pick up eighth-place points in the 200-medley relay with a time of 1:45.48.
The effort fell just .25 seconds short of matching the school record Kolackovsky, Markwell and Shuba helped set at last year's conference meet.
Divers from across the league were center-stage as the women's three-meter competition t opened the action at the four-day meet in conjunction with the men's one-meter even. Gabby Signorelli (Massapequa, N.Y.) and Katie Riley (Newburgh, N.Y.) finished back-to-back with scores of 216.70 and 214.50 respectively in the preliminary round to earn a spot in the consolation final.
In the second diving session of the day, Riley totaled 229.10 points to finish 14th overall, just ahead of Signorelli in 15th (217.70), each adding valuable points to the SHU total.
Following day one, the Pirates sit in eighth place with 45 team points. Notre Dame leads with 141 points.
The championships will resume tomorrow, Thursday, February 28 from Indianapolis. The day's schedule includes the women's one-meter diving competition as well as the 50-free, 500-free and 200-IM individual events. The night will conclude with the 200-free relay.
A live webcast will once again be available at www.bigeastswimming.com and will begin at 10:00 a.m.
Don't forget to follow @SHUSwim on twitter for updates throughout the day.
