Seton Hall University
Patriot Invite Day Three
MS&D Finishes Fourth at Patriot Invite
11/23/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
FAIRFAX, VA. - The Seton Hall men's swimming & diving squad completed the fall portion of its schedule at the Patriot Invitational over the weekend, earning a fourth-place finish at the eight-team competition hosted by George Mason.
The Pirates finished the meet with 448 points, besting American, George Washington, Shippensburg and Howard. George Mason claimed the team title with 1,065 points.
Day One
The Hall finished day one in fourth-place after accumulating five individual scoring performances.
Senior diver Ben Mitchell (Milford, Pa.) was the lone Pirate to come away with an event victory at the three-day meet, besting seven other competitors in one meter competition with a finals score of 269.05. His 282.65 score in prelims was the top mark in the event.
Sophomore Alex Pfisterer (Mohnton, Pa.) placed fifth (244.0) and Eric Davidson (Overland Park, Kan.) claimed seventh (223.90).
Freshman Noah Yanchulis (Arnold, Md.) paced the team in two events on opening day, placing eighth in the 500-free with a finals time of 4:46.48. Yanchulis entered the race seeded sixth after turning in a time of 4:42.17 in the morning session.
Yanchulis also led a trio of SHU scorers in the B final of the 200-IM, finishing as the runner up and 10th overall with a time of 1:54.59 that bettered his own top time in the conference. Classmate Zohar Suslovich (Holon, Israel) clocked in at 1:57.51, .06 seconds ahead of another freshman in Matt Zebrowski (Sayreville, N.J.) as the two finished in 14th and 15th respectively.
Zach DeLillo (Sinking Spring, Pa.), Jason Tan (Bridgewater, N.J.), TJ Merighi (Vineland, N.J.) and Keith Carlino (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) carried The Hall to a fifth-place finish in the 200-free relay (1:26.35); the squad's top relay performance of the day.
In the 400-medley relay, Suslovich and Zebrowski combined with Cooper Lindsley (Lancaster, Pa.) and Collin Dunn (Litchfield, Conn.) to claim ninth-place with a time of 3:33.32.
Day Two
The middle day was the most fruitful of the competition for the Pirates on the men's side as SHU collected 13 individual scoring performances.
Mitchell spearheaded the effort yet again, posting a meet-best 314.70 in preliminaries before narrowly missing out on his second victory in as many days with a runner-up score of 306.10 in the final. Davidson (sixth, 247.70) and Pfisterer (seventh, 238.40) helped SHU come away with more points than any other team at the event.
Sean Sali (Bridgewater, N.J.) was the Pirates' top finisher in the pool, turning in a fifth-place time of 58.20 that stands as the second-fastest time in the BIG EAST in an event that has been dominated by Seton Hall to this point. Suslovich just missed out on advancing to the championship race but held on to his top seed in the conference with a victorious B final time of 57.69.
Suslovich also won the B final in the 100-back, reaching the wall in 51.73 to share first place but it was Carlino who ranked sixth in the A final with a 51.64 showing.
Yanchulis registered his third team-leading time with a seventh-place finish in the 400-IM (4:07.87), pacing a trio of Pirates that picked up points in the event. Sophomore Ian Campbell (Corvallis, Ore.) finished 13th (4:12.32), two spots ahead of Cody Wimmer (Macungie, Pa.) (4:18.79).
In the 100-fly, Zebrowski and DeLillo added a pair of point scoring efforts as Zebrowski clocked in third in the B final (51.68), .43 seconds in front of DeLillo in 13th overall.
Tim Bosse (New Windsor, N.Y.) was responsible for the team's best 200-free time, ranking 14th overall with a night session time of 1:43.97.
The Hall collected fifth-place points in both relay events held on the day as well. Carlino, DeLillo, Sali and Bosse finished .1 seconds out of fourth in the 200-medley (1:34.38) while the team of Yanchulis, Bosse, Tan and Lindsley posted a time of 6:54.65 in the 800-free.
Day Three
Seton Hall added seven more individual scoring times on the final day, including four of the top-16 marks in the 1,650-free.
Suslovich was the standout of the day however, claiming second in the 200-back after clocking in at 1:51.17 in the final behind only a meet record time from the victor. Freshman Michael Mattera (Deer Park, N.Y.) added a 10th-place time of 1:54.09 as the runner-up in the B final.
Wimmer came within seven seconds of victory with a time of 15:59.36 that was third-best overall while Campbell joined him in the top-10 with an eighth-place effort (16:31.80). Seth Underwood (Collegeville, Pa.) claimed 11th (16:42.23), finishing less than two seconds outside the top-10 while Lindsley added a 16th-place showing (16:52.67).
In the 200-fly, Zebrowski closed out the meet with a sixth-place time of 1:54.05.
A 3:09.77 effort from Yanchulis, Bosse, Carlino and Tan in the 400-free relay pushed the Pirates' four-day total to the final mark of 448 points.
Seton Hall will make a winter training trip to Ponce, Puerto Rico before returning to competition in January.
