WS&D Lands Eight on All-BIG EAST Team
2/27/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Feb. 27, 2014
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Following a fourth-place showing at last week's conference championships, eight members of the Seton Hall women's swimming & diving team were recognized with All-BIG EAST honors the league office announced on Thursday.
The All-BIG EAST squad is comprised of swimmers and divers who finished in the top-three in any individual or relay event at the championships.
The Pirate contingent is headlined by senior swimmer Kerrie Kolackovsky (Franklin Square, N.Y.) and sophomore diver Gabby Signorelli (Massapequa, N.Y.); both of whom took home a pair of BIG EAST titles in addition to a most outstanding performer award.
Kolackovsky punctuated a distinguished career that includes six individual school records by reaching the pinnacle of the conference, sweeping the 100 and 200-yard breaststroke events and placing second in the 200-IM. Her exploits earned her a share of the meet's Most Outstanding Female Swimmer Award along with Fiona Hardie of women's champions Villanova.
The senior's individual victories gave Seton Hall its first swimming championships on the women's side in two decades, but she also swam as part of school-record setting 800-free and 200 and 400-medley relay squads, earning All-Conference distinction in six events overall.
Kolackovsky's six All-BIG EAST awards were tied for third out of 39 female honorees, coming in behind only a pair of Villanova Wildcats in Sarah Jurek and Kaisla Kollanus who collected seven each.
Signorelli's accomplishments were unprecedented at The Hall, as she emerged from the diving portion of the meet as the Most Outstanding Female Diver after taking home gold in one and three-meter competition. She became the program's first conference champion on the diving board in the process and was immediately followed by teammate Katie Riley (Newburgh, N.Y.) who captured the silver medal in each event to add to a dominant showing for the Pirates.
The season is not over for the diving duo as both have qualified to compete in the NCAA Zone A Diving Championships in Blacksburg, Va. next month.
Kolackovsky and Riley were two of three Pirates to power their way to All-BIG EAST accolades in their final trip to the conference meet while Signorelli joins a group of five other Seton Hall honorees eligible to return next season.
Kelly Markwell (Old Bridge, N.J.) capped her time in the pool for SHU by proving to be a lynchpin in record breaking 200-medley and 400-medley relay teams, helping The Hall finish second in the 400 and take third in the 200.
Freshman Melody Bush (Guelph, Ontario) and sophomore Megan Mallon (Glen Mills, Pa.) teamed with Kolackovsky and Markwell in each of those medley relays and finished the meet in a tie for second on the team with four All-BIG EAST efforts.
Bush, who placed her name next to both the 100 and 200-back school records in just her first year of collegiate competition, swam her way to a bronze medal in the 100-back and was also present on a third-place 800-relay team.
Mallon also delivered a standout performance at the meet, finishing directly behind Kolackovsky in the 100-breast to garner the Pirates' only silver medal in the pool. The Glen Mills product also claimed bronze in the 200-breast to round out a trip to the conference meet that featured a host of personal-best times.
Rounding out the extensive list of All-Conference performers for the Seton Hall women was a pair of sophomores in Cora Meehan (Noblesville, Ind.) and Rae Congdon (Ottawa, Ontario). Meehan and Congdon swam the third and fourth legs respectively to help Seton Hall establish a new program standard in the 800-free relay and earn a bronze medal in the event as well.
In all, the eight honorees combined to take home a total of 22 All-BIG EAST awards.
"I am very proud of what we were able to accomplish last weekend," said 14th-year head coach Ron Farina. "For our seniors, it was good to see them rewarded for all their hard work. They really took advantage of the opportunity they were presented with and were able to go out on a high note."
"The fact that we have five All-BIG EAST performers who are underclassmen speaks to the depth of the program," he added. "I know that they are happy with their results but I think awards like this just highlight what they are capable of and will make them that much more hungry to improve heading into next year. We had a number of other returning swimmers barely miss out on a top-three time so I definitely think this could be the start of something special and I am excited about where our program is and where it can go."
2014 All-BIG EAST Team
Women
Melody Bush, Seton Hall (200 Medley Relay, 800 Free Relay, 100 Back, 400 Medley Relay)
Rae Congdon, Seton Hall (800 Free Relay)
Kerrie Kolackovsky, Seton Hall (200 Medley Relay, 800 Free Relay, 200 IM, 100 Breast, 400 Medley Relay, 200 Breast)
Megan Mallon, Seton Hall (200 Medley Relay, 100 Breast, 400 Medley Relay, 200 Breast)
Kelly Markwell, Seton Hall (200 Medley Relay, 400 Medley Relay)
Cora Meehan, Seton Hall (800 Free Relay)
Katie Riley, Seton Hall (1M Diving, 3M Diving)
Gabby Signorelli, Seton Hall (1M Diving, 3M Diving)
