Kolackovsky Picks Up Second BIG EAST Award
1/28/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Jan. 28, 2014
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Following a two-month layoff from competition, senior Kerrie Kolackovsky (Franklin Square, N.Y.) quickly resumed her winning ways for the Seton Hall women's swimming & diving squad, and was rewarded with her second-straight BIG EAST Women's Swimming & Diving Athlete of the Week award the conference announced on Tuesday afternoon.
Kolackovsky notched six more individual victories over two meets last weekend, helping lift the Pirates to an impressive road win at reigning MAAC champions Marist before swimming to three first-place times against Connecticut in the final home appearance of her career.
Up against the Red Foxes, the Franklin Square native helped the Pirates open the meet with a victory in the 200-medley relay, anchoring a squad that also included Melody Bush (Guelph, Ontario), Megan Mallon (Glen Mills, Pa.) and Kelly Markwell (Old Bridge, N.J.). Later, she claimed the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:54.52 and followed up with a 53.25 showing in the 100-yard freestyle, surpassing five other competitors in the event.
To close the afternoon, Kolackovsky delivered a key victory in the 100-yard freestyle, outpacing the field by nearly five seconds with a time of 5:09.75.
The senior was similarly dominant en route to a first-place showing in the 100-yard breaststroke on Sunday, reaching the wall over four seconds ahead of the top Huskies performer with a time of 1:05.50. Mallon placed second (1:06.45), and the two teammates currently stand as the top-two seeds in the BIG EAST in the event.
Kolackovsky also owns the fastest 200-breast time in the league this season, and added a 2:22.97 effort against the Huskies that was good enough to claim the top spot as well. In her final home swim as a Pirate, she raced to a final mark of 2:09.26 in the 200-IM - another event in which she sits atop the BIG EAST - clocking in over five seconds before the next swimmer to reach the wall.
With the victories, she closes her senior campaign with wins in all 16 races she entered in the Pirates' six dual meets this season.
Seton Hall has now swept all three BIG EAST Women's Swimming & Diving awards that have been handed out this season, after freshman Melody Bush took the inaugural honor of 2013-14. Kolackovsky closed the fall as the reigning performer of the week on the women's side after posting four top-five individual finishes at the nine-team Patriot Invitational.
"Kerrie has been so consistent for us all season and really over her entire career," said head coach Ron Farina. "She is a very versatile swimmer which she showed this weekend by winning a number of different events. It was nice to see her be able to come out and perform like that, especially in her final home meet, but I know she is far from satisfied as we continue to work towards the conference championship."
The Pirates will get their final tune-up prior to the 2014 BIG EAST Championship this weekend when both the men's and women's squads head to Annapolis, Md. for the Navy Invitational; a day-long meet scheduled for Saturday, February 1.
