Seton Hall University
Providence
WS&D Dominates Providence in Home Debut
11/1/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - The unbeaten Seton Hall women's swimming & diving team competed within friendly confines for this first time this season on Saturday and the Pirates powered their way to 11 event victories in a decisive 177-103 defeat of BIG EAST rival Providence.
The result improved The Hall to 6-0 on the women's side to this point in the year and Saturday's meet saw the squad record two relay wins to go with nine individual first-place finishes that were split among seven different team members.
Seton Hall recorded the three fastest times in the 200-medley relay to begin the competition with the victorious quartet of Melody Bush (Guelph, Ontario), Megan Mallon (Glen Mills, Pa.) Tessa Lindner (Sun Prairie, Wisc.) and Kat Carson (Katy, Texas) setting the tone with a 1:50.18 mark that was over three seconds ahead of the Friars' top squad.
Bush, Mallon and Carson all added their own first-place performances during the meet as well; contributing to the Pirates' dominance throughout the afternoon.
After recording two impressive victories at Loyola (MD) last week, Bush claimed top honors in the 200-free (1:56.68), beating PC standout Katherine Fallon to the wall, before picking up another winning time in the 200-back by touching in at 2:08.58.
Mallon led three Seton Hall competitors in the top-four of the 200-breast event, recording a final mark of 2:30.06. Freshman Courtney Regan (Southbury, Conn.) took third in 2:34.56 and was followed to the finish by teammate Maddie Harris (Ocala, Fla.) (2:38.45).
In the 50-free race, Carson continued her emergence as the Pirates' top sprint threat, clocking in at 24.77 and pacing a trio of scorers from The Hall in the event that also included Isabelle Alario (Hermosa Beach, Calif.) and Lindner who placed fourth and fifth respectively.
Another newcomer who has come on to routinely contribute first-place efforts early this fall is Kylene Ronayne (Springfield, Pa.) and in her first home appearance the Springfield native did not disappoint. Ronayne opened her program with a victorious effort in the 100-back, clocking in at 1:01.23 after out-dueling Providence senior Moira James (1:01.95) at the finish.
Paige Anderson and Cora Meehan (Noblesville, Ind.) chipped in fourth and fifth-place times behind Ronayne.
The final individual race of the afternoon was the 400-IM and trailing by nearly three-tenths of a second heading into the final leg, Ronayne shot past Helen Smith of the Friars and earned another win with a time of 4:43.02, edging Smith by .27 seconds.
Sydney Simpson (Tallahassee, Fla.) scored another win for a talented freshman class making its home debut by posting a 59.31 in the 100-fly while Lindner earned third-place points in the event.
While the fresh faces thrived; a veteran more than familiar with the Arthur E. Imperatore Natatorium also made a triumphant return to competition in South Orange. Forced to sit out the 2013-14 campaign, senior Jane Ehret (Florida, N.Y.) headlined a Seton Hall sweep of the top-two spots in the 200-fly, collecting a time of 2:12.25. Sophomore Cece Henry (St. Charles, Mo.) claimed second in 2:15.30.
Not to be outdone by her teammates in the pool, junior diver Gabby Signorelli (Massapequa, N.Y.) delivered a season-best score of 286.50 from the one-meter board, coming within six points of the school record and earning a trip back to the NCAAA Zone Diving Championships in the process.
To put an exclamation mark on the performance, Bush, Carson and Ronayne teamed with freshman Sam Shirtliff (Camp Hill, Pa.) to close the meet with a win in the 200-free relay after finishing in 1:40.46.
The Pirates will get another crack at BIG EAST opposition as well as rival Rutgers when they travel to Piscataway to take on Georgetown, Villanova and the Scarlet Knights at a two-day quad meet. Competition will begin at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, November 7 and continue the following day.
