Seton Hall University
BIG EAST Championship
Kolackovsky Adds 200-Breast Victory; Hall Finishes Fourth
2/23/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Feb. 23, 2014
SEWELL, N.J. - Evoking memories of former Pirate great Kevin Webster in 2011, senior Kerrie Kolackovsky (Franklin Square, N.Y.) closed a decorated career on Saturday by powering her way to her second conference title in a 24-hour span; headlining the final day of the 2014 BIG EAST Championships for the Seton Hall women's swimming & diving team.
Webster captured two conference crowns in his final trip to the BIG EAST meet and was rewarded with the league's Most Outstanding Male Swimmer Award. One day after adding her name to the banner of champions that hangs high above the Arthur E. Imperatore Natatorium at The Hall by outlasting teammate and silver medalist Megan Mallon (Glen Mills, Pa.) in the 100-breast, Kolackovsky flew past a challenging 200-breast field to complete a sweep of the breaststroke events.
The Franklin Square native clocked a time of 2:19.60 in the final, winning gold by nearly a four second margin over Xavier's Natalie Hyde. At meet's end, she was recognized as the Co-Most Outstanding Female Swimmer, sharing the honor with Fiona Hardie of Villanova.
Over the four-day meet, Kolackovsky also snagged a silver medal in the 200-IM and swam as part of school-record setting 800-free, 200-medley and 400-medley relay teams. With the win, she joined Seton Hall Athletics Hall of Famer Jen Heider as the only swimmers in program history with multiple BIG EAST championships to their credit and matched the double gold performance of diver Gabby Signorelli (Massapequa, N.Y.) who dominated the diving meet last Saturday.
Mallon kept pace with the front of the field yet again on Saturday, adding a bronze medal in the 200-breast with a time of 2:24.03 in the final.
In the 200-fly, two Pirates competed for the gold during the night session with freshmen Cece Henry (St. Charles, Mo.) and Tessa Lindner (Sun Prairie, Wis.) ultimately placed fourth and seventh respectively. Henry rounded out an impressive first trip to the conference stage with the fourth-fastest finals time (2:05.74), finishing less than .3 seconds outside the top-three. Lindner turned in a time of 2:09.06.
Senior Kelly Markwell (Old Bridge, N.J.) was victorious in the final race of her career, finishing atop the 'B' final field by reaching the wall in 2:07.65 to collect ninth-place points.
Freshman Melody Bush (Guelph, Ontario) was the Pirates' top performer in the 200-back, placing sixth after garnering a bronze medal in the 100-back on Friday night. Bush led four SHU swimmers in the top-16 of the event as sophomore Cora Meehan (Noblesville, Ind.) eclipsed the 'B' final field by touching in at 2:05.03 while classmates Alexa Santis (Ijamsville, Md.) (13th) and Leah Mayer (London, Ontario) (16th) picked up points as well.
In the 1,650-free, senior Kate Dwyer (Freehold, N.J.) turned in a 10th-place time of 17:50.37 to lead The Hall's distance efforts on the day.
An 11th-place finish from Rae Congdon (Ottawa, Ontario) paced the Pirates in the 100-yard freestyle as the sophomore clocked in at 53.53 to place third in the consolation final. Junior Gabi Levine (Garwood, N.J.) also earned a second swim, placing 16th overall with a finals time of 53.99.
Kolackovsky, Congdon, Levine and Bush closed the championships by swimming a 3:32.32 to take fourth in the 400-free relay.
The Hall finished fourth (530 points) as a team to wrap up the 2013-14 season. Villanova was crowned team champions with 842 points, followed by Georgetown in second (690 points).
