S&D Squads Head to Loyola Quad Meet
10/24/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - The Seton Hall men's and women's swimming & diving teams have each swept their first two meets of the season and on Saturday, the Pirates look to continue their early season surge at a quad meet hosted by Loyola (MD).
The Hall will join Drexel, Lafayette and the host Greyhounds at the competition, looking to follow up a pair of victories at Rider last week.
Drexel opens its 2014-15 slate today against local rival LaSalle while Lafayette will be making their season debut. Loyola (MD) wrapped up its only appearance to this point of the new year nearly two weeks ago; recording five event wins in another quad meet featuring three other programs from the nation's capital in American University, Catholic University of America and George Washington University.
As for the Pirates, the women's side has been nothing short of dominant, downing Montclair State and Rider by an average margin in excess of 78 points.
Against the Broncs, freshman Kylene Ronayne (Springfield, Pa.) was one of three newcomers to post a pair of individual wins, continuing what has been an impressive first chapter of her collegiate career. The Springfield product owns a top-five time in the conference in three different events, including the fastest 200-IM mark (2:12.48) posted thus far by BIG EAST women's competitor.
Ronayne topped the 200-back field as well at Rider (2:08.33), finishing just ahead of teammate Melody Bush (Guelph, Ontario) who reached the wall in 2:09.77. The performances have the two Seton Hall underclassmen among the top tier in the league while Bush also holds the second-fastest 100-back time conference-wide.
Freshman Sydney Simpson (Tallahassee, Fla.) also notched two wins last time out in an effort that was highlighted by a 100-fly showing that narrowly missed cracking the one-minute mark.
Simpson has paired with junior Megan Mallon (Glen Mills, Pa.) to give The Hall a formidable breaststroke duo as well. The freshman's 2:28.04 finish in the 200-breast in the opener at Montclair State has been bested by only one other BIG EAST swimmer in the early going while Mallon - a 100-breaststroke silver-medalist at last year's BIG EAST Championships - stands in the top-three in the conference at both the 100 and 200-yard distances.
Reigning BIG EAST diving champion Gabby Signorelli (Massapequa, N.Y.) has contributed to the team's dominance with three event victories and has already earned the right to defend her pair of conference crowns.
The Seton Hall men are shaping up to be championship contenders as well as the team of Tim Bosse (New Windsor, N.Y.), Zach DeLillo (Sinking Spring, Pa.), Sean Sali (Bridgewater, N.J.) and Zohar Suslovich (Holon, Israel) raced to the top 200-medley relay time in the league during a thrilling win over the defending MAAC champions.
DeLillo also ranks as the top 100-fly performer in the conference while the freshman Sali collected the fastest 100-breast mark by a BIG EAST swimmer in the win; two of seven-league leading times currently held by the Pirates.
Suslovich (1:56.50) ranks atop an all-Seton Hall trio featuring teammates Michael Mattera (Deer Park, N.Y.) (1:57.54) and Keith Carlino (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) (1:58.20) that has paced the conference in the 200-back.
Carlino's 51.92 in the 100-back at Rider also leads the pack while senior and 200-breast gold medal holder James Logan (Wallingford, Pa.) holds a BIG EAST-best 2:10.47 mark in the event and also ranks second with a 59.81 at 100 yards.
Newcomer Matt Zebrowski (Sayreville, N.J.) accounted for The Hall's other league-leading performance, racing to a 1:54.64 in the 200-fly in just his second collegiate meet.
Senior diver Ben Mitchell (Milford, Pa.) has also been routinely dominant, scoring over 300 points in three out of four six-dive sets and coming away with three event wins.
Head coach Ron Farina's squads will look to continue the momentum against a more crowded field this weekend. In 2013, the Pirates combined for three victories on the team scoreboard against the same competition.
Start-time is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. A full recap of the day's action will be available on SHUPirates.com.
