Seton Hall University
BIG EAST Championship
Kolackovsky Wins 100-Breast; School Records Fall
2/22/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Feb. 22, 2014
SEWELL, N.J. - Friday was a day 20 years in the making for the Seton Hall women's swimming & diving team as a championship effort from senior standout Kerrie Kolackovsky (Franklin Square, N.Y.) in the 100-yard breaststroke headlined a day three at the 2014 BIG EAST Championships in which the Pirates registered seven top-eight finishes and established two new school records.
The league's top performer in the event over the entire season, Kolackovsky captured the coveted conference title in convincing fashion, prevailing over her next closest competitor from an opposing school by over a second with a finals time of 1:04.19 after ranking first out of 19 swimmers in preliminaries.
The conference championship was the first since in the pool for the Seton Hall women since SHU Athletics Hall of Famer Jen Heider collected the last of her four BIG EAST crowns in 1994 and is the third BIG EAST championship for the women's squad overall this season after sophomore diver and fellow Long Island product Gabby Signorelli (Massapequa, N.Y.) was golden at last week's diving meet.
The victory adds yet another accolade to a decorated career that includes over 70 wins and six individual school records. Making the event even more memorable for The Hall was a second place showing from sophomore Megan Mallon (Glen Mills, Pa.) who earned a silver medal with a finals time of 1:05.13.
Freshman Melody Bush (Guelph, Ontario) had a tremendous day of her own, twice resetting her own school record in the 100-back on her way to a bronze medal. Bush eclipsed her old mark by clocking in at 57.04 during prelims and came back to reach the wall in 56.85 in the championship final.
Gabi Levine (Garwood, N.J.) outclassed all other competitors in the consolation race, winning with a time of 57.90 to place ninth overall. Seton Hall also received a third scoring effort from freshman Kelsey Buonaiuto (Miller Place, N.Y.) who finished 13th with a 'B' finals time of 59.43.
The 100-back school record was not the only one to fall for the Seton Hall women on Friday as in the 400-medley relay, Bush, Mallon and Kolackovsky combined with Kelly Markwell (Old Bridge, N.J.) to place second in 3:50.12. The effort came in under the previous standard of 3:50.63 set last season by a squad that also included Kolackovsky and Markwell.
Markwell was part of a trio of finalists for The Hall in the 100-fly, joining Levine and Tessa Lindner (Sun Prairie, Wis.) in the championship race. The freshman Lindner paced the squad with a sixth-place time of 57.02, followed by Markwell (57.20) and Levine (57.76).
Another freshman led the Pirates in the 400-IM as Cece Henry (St. Charles, Mo.) turned in a team-best time of 4:32.17 to rank seventh in the final; shaving over five seconds off her prelim mark. Sophomore Alexa Santis (Ijamsville, Md.) also added a 13th-place showing in the event after clocking in at 4:43.05 while junior Megan Mostoller (Cheshire, Conn.) contributed 15th-place points.
Sophomore Rae Congdon (Ottawa, Ontario) recorded the team's top performance in the lone remaining individual event, coming within .11 seconds of winning the 200-free 'B' final with a time of 1:55.06. Senior Kate Dwyer (Freehold, N.J.) and sophomore Cora Meehan (Noblesville, Ind.) placed 15th and 16th respectively to round out the Pirate contingent.
Seton Hall will enter the final day with 372 points, standing third behind Georgetown (511.50) and Villanova (567).
The Championships will conclude with five individual events and one relay on Saturday. Check back on SHUPirates.com tomorrow morning for a full preview of the day four program.
Competition is scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. from GCIT. Live results will be available HERE or by downloading the free Meet Mobile App.
Finals are set to start at 6:00 p.m.
Don't forget to follow @SHUSwimDive and @BIGEASTChamps on Twitter for updates on the action as well.
