BIG EAST Day One Preview
2/19/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Feb. 19, 2014
PSYCH SHEETS l LIVE RESULTS l MEET MOBILE APP
SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. - The swimming portion of the 2014 BIG EAST Swimming & Diving Championships is set to kick-off tonight from the Gloucester Institute of Technology in Sewell, N.J. as the conference's best will take the block in relay action on Wednesday night.
Seton Hall has already captured gold on both the men's and women's side, as junior Ben Mitchell (Milford, Pa.) and sophomore Gabby Signorelli (Massapequa, N.Y.) combined to sweep all four diving titles last weekend. By virtue of their collective performance on the boards, the Seton Hall men enter the competition already with 88 points and a substantial lead over Georgetown (33), the only other squad to score thus far. For the women, Signorelli and Katie Riley (Newburgh, N.Y.) helped collect the maximum of 74 points over the two events, placing the Pirates in second behind the Hoyas who stand in first with 99 points.
Wednesday night's program calls for just two events on each side, the 800-free and 200-medley relays.
Senior Kerrie Kolackovsky (Franklin Square, N.Y.), sophomores Cora Meehan (Noblesville, Ind.) and Rae Congdon (Ottawa, Ontario) and freshman Melody Bush (Guelph, Ontario) own the Pirates' top 800-free relay time of the season, turning in a 7:46.56 effort that was good enough for fifth at the Patriot Invitational. Seton Hall will enter the race seeded third in the conference, close behind Xavier in second whose squad owns a seed time of 7:42.18.
The Villanova women registered the fastest 800-free relay time in the league this season, reaching the wall in a collective 7:20.92 at the AT&T Winter National Championships.
In the 200-medley relay, Kolackovsky and Bush teamed with Megan Mallon (Glen Mills, Pa.) and Kelly Marwell (Old Bridge, N.J.) to post a time of 1:46.06 at the Patriot Invitational, finishing less than one second off the school record pace (1:45.23). The performance also doubled as the fastest showing in the league during the 2013-14 campaign and, slightly ahead of Villanova (1:46.11) and Georgetown (1:46.90).
On the men's side, The Hall will head into tonight ranked second in the 200-medley relay, just over one tick off the conference leading pace set by Georgetown (1:32.85). Freshman Keith Carlino (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) got it started during the Pirates' best showing of the year in the event, combining with James Logan (Wallingford, Pa.), Zach DeLillo (Sinking Spring, Pa.) and Tim Bosse (New Windsor, N.Y.) to clock in at 1:33.91 at the Patriot Invitational as well.
Bosse, Andrew William (Bayonne, N.J.), Cooper Lindsley (Lancaster, Pa.) and Tyler Naumann (Middletown, Conn.) comprised the squad's top 800-free team of the year, turning in a team-best time of 7:10.27 at the same meet. Their time was fifth-best in the BIG EAST during the regular season, rounding out a group that is headed by Xavier with a seed time of 6:49.60.
A win in any of the four events would mark another first for the program as though school records have fallen with regularity at the BIG EAST Championship over recent years; Seton Hall has never taken home a relay title from the conference meet.
Competition is slated to begin at 6:00 p.m. from GCIT. Live results will be available HERE or by downloading the free Meet Mobile App.
Don't forget to follow @SHUSwimDive and @BIGEASTChamps on Twitter for updates on the action as well.
2014 BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM SCORES
2. Seton Hall - 74
3. Villanova - 29
4. Providence - 11
2. Georgetown - 33
