Seton Hall University
BIG EAST Diving Championship
PIRATE'S GOLD: SHU Sweeps BIG EAST Meet
2/15/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Feb. 15, 2014
VILLANOVA, PA. - It's a long climb to the top.
Aside from the dedication and persistence required to earn the opportunity to compete at the highest collegiate level the nation has to offer, countless hours are put in to training and preparation in an effort to elevate above the opposition.
For two Seton Hall divers in Ben Mitchell (Milford, Pa.) and Gabby Signorelli (Massapequa, N.Y.), those early mornings and late evenings spent repeatedly scaling the steps that lead to the diving boards inside the Arthur E. Imperatore Natatorium paid huge dividends on the conference's biggest stage on Saturday.
Both Mitchell and Signorelli set a gold standard in year one of a new-look conference, coming out on top in one and three-meter competition at the 2014 BIG EAST Diving Championships hosted by Villanova and becoming the first divers in program history to win a conference title in the process. Following their superlative performances, Mitchell was named the Most Outstanding Diver on the men's side while Signorelli was tabbed as the Most Outstanding Diver for the women; both also program firsts.
In recognition of the team's exceptional outing, diving head coach and former Seton Hall diver PJ Hughes was chosen as Coach of the Year for both the men and the women.
The top returning finisher from a substantially larger conference meet last season, Mitchell was thoroughly dominant throughout the day, asserting himself as unquestionably the top diver in the league. A force throughout the dual meet season and already the school record holder in each event, the junior first reached the summit from the three-meter board, diving to a combined preliminary and final score of 621.45 that was more than 100 points ahead of runner-up Jared Cooper-Vespa of Georgetown (521.15).
The Milford native topped 300 points in both prelims and the final, opening with a score of 301.50 to head into the last round as the leader. He then calmly tucked and twisted his way to a score of 319.95 - and subsequently the Seton Hall record books - to secure his first championship of the day.
No Seton Hall male diver had ever scored as many as 300 points in a six-dive set prior to Mitchell's arrival for the 2011-12 season and the junior has now done so over 15 times in his career. Perhaps more impressively, his titles come just one year after he became the first diver in school history to advance to an A final at the conference meet.
For an encore, he returned to the one-meter board and tallied a two-round score of 535.50 to complete the unprecedented sweep. Sophomore Eric Davidson (Overland Park, Kan.) put an exclamation mark on an ascendant showing from the Pirates' contingent, capping a campaign in which he took tremendous strides from his freshman season by capturing the silver medal with a score of 489.10. Cooper-Vespa came in third with a final tally of 471.40 - in excess of 60 points off Mitchell's winning score - and Seton Hall freshman Alex Pfisterer (Mohnton, Pa.) picked up a fourth-place finish in his first trip to the conference championship (442.60).
Davidson also placed third in three-meter competition, scoring 489.40 to record one of seven top-two finishes for The Hall on the day.
The chase for the crown in female competition set up to be a tightly-contested one as eight divers from four schools began the day by vying for the right to be called one-meter champion. Signorelli and senior Katie Riley (Newburgh, N.Y.) emerged as the preeminent duo in the BIG EAST however; placing 1-2 for what would be the first of two occasions on the day.
Signorelli - whose transcendent performance helped The Hall end a two-decade long title drought on the women's side - sent a clear message out of the gates, scoring 273.80 in preliminaries and outpacing her closest competitor from another school by greater than 70 points. Even with the huge advantage, she followed by sewing up her place in Seton Hall history by tallying 242.35 in the final to cruise to the top of the podium with a total of 516.15.
Riley's preliminary mark of 218.75 was the best six-dive score among all other entrants and the senior managed to post a 212.70 in the final to push her total to 431.45 and hold off Georgetown's Lauren Kahan (429.80) for second position.
Following the break, Signorelli and Riley were similarly dominant from the three-meter board, simply outclassing rival divers from Georgetown and host Villanova. Signorelli continued to execute at a high level and in the end it was her name left atop the leaderboard next to a score of 497.05. Once again, her stiffest challenge came from her teammate Riley, who snatched a second silver medal by finishing with a final mark of 470.80.
Michelle Hall of Villanova placed a distant third, registering a score of 404.95.
By virtue of their efforts, Mitchell and Signorelli have etched their place in Seton Hall lore and each is slated to return next season with their names alongside other Pirate greats on the banners that adorn the walls of the Arthur E. Imperatore Natatorium. Mitchell became one of only five males in program history to earn the distinction of BIG EAST champion and the first since Kevin Webster won the 400-IM and 200-back to garner Most Outstanding Swimmer at the 2011 conference meet. Signorelli is the third champion for Seton Hall on the women's side, adding the program's sixth and seventh overall titles to a list that includes four from Heider, the most recent of which came in the 100-fly in 1994.
The season does not end here for the Seton Hall divers as the Pirates will be well-represented at the upcoming NCAA Zone A Championships in Blacksburg, Va. in March.
The 2014 BIG EAST Championships are far from completed as well as not to be lost in the historic day for The Hall is the fact that the Pirates will enter next week's swimming championships ahead on the team leaderboard. The meet is schedule to take place over four consecutive days beginning Wednesday, February 19 at Gloucester County Institute of Technology in Sewell, N.J. where Seton Hall will take aim at adding more names to the championship banners and taking home the first team championship in school history.
2014 BIG EAST Diving Championships
Results
Women's 1-Meter
Gabby Signorelli, Seton Hall, 516.15
Katie Riley, Seton Hall, 431.45
Lauren Kahan, Georgetown, 429.80
Casandra Schwartz, Georgetown, 414.15
Jen Purks, Georgetown, 378.35
Michelle Hall, Villanova, 374.30
Sarah Jaklitsch, Georgetown, 371.00
Lauren Griffin, Providence, 368.10
Men's 3-Meter
Ben Mitchell, Seton Hall, 621.45
Jared Cooper-Vespa, Georgetown, 521.15
Eric Davidson, Seton Hall, 489.40
Women's 3-Meter
Gabby Signorelli, Seton Hall, 497.05
Katie Riley, Seton Hall, 470.80
Michelle Hall, Villanova, 404.95
Jen Purks, Georgetown, 399.55
Sarah Jaklitsch, Georgetown, 394.40
Casandra Schwartz, Georgetown, 335.95
Men's 1-Meter
Ben Mitchell, Seton Hall, 535.50
Eric Davidson, Seton Hall, 489.10
Jared Cooper-Vespa, Georgetown, 471.40
Alex Pfisterer, Seton Hall, 442.60
Men's Most Outstanding Diver
Ben Mitchell, Seton Hall
Women's Most Outstanding Diver
Gabby Signorelli, Seton Hall
Men's Diving Coach of the Year
PJ Hughes, Seton Hall
Women's Diving Coach of the Year
PJ Hughes, Seton Hall
