Rutgers Swimming Hosts BIG EAST Quad Meet With Villanova, Georgetown, Seton Hall

PISCATAWAY – Rutgers swimming hosted the first of a two-day BIG EAST quad dual meet that involved Villanova, Georgetown and Seton Hall.

Rutgers Press Release

The Rutgers swimming and diving team opened its two-day quad meet against Villanova, Georgetown and Seton Hall on Friday night at the RU Aquatics Center. The Scarlet Knights hold a six-point advantage over the Wildcats by a score of 93-87 to sit atop the leaderboard. RU controls commanding leads over Georgetown (138.50-47.50) and Seton Hall (146-39).

Rutgers started off the meet in the 200 freestyle relay with the team comprised of junior Sarah Coyne (Osceola, Ind.), sophomore Megan Kiely (Mountain Lakes, N.J.), junior Julia Kudryashova (New Providence, N.J.) and junior Joanna Wu (Kent, Wash.) touching the wall second in the event. The group’s time of 1:36.02 was just tenths behind Villanova’s quartet.

The Scarlet Knights found their revenge in the 400 medley relay, when the group of Wu, senior Greta Leberfinger (Chatham, N.J.), junior Morgan Pfaff (Red Lion, Pa.) and Coyne outpaced the field with a time of 3:45.58. Villanova’s squad hit the wall more than six seconds behind RU.

Rutgers dominated the 100 breaststroke, sweeping the top three spots. Leberfinger led the way hitting the wall at 1:03.67, followed by sophomore Rachel Stoddard (Hillsborough, N.J.) at 1:06.42. Freshman Larissa Neilan (Orange, Va.) tied for third with a time of 1:06.61.

Individually, Pfaff led RU with two first-place showings. The Pennsylvania native paced the field in the 200 butterfly with a time of 2:01.63. The mark is just three seconds off her record-setting time of 1:58.02 in the 2014 ECAC Swimming and Diving Championships. Pfaff also claimed first in the 200 I.M., hitting the wall at 2:04.36.

On the boards, freshman Addy Walkowaik (Ballston Spa, N.Y.) dove into first with a mark of 307.65. Sophomore Alyssa Black (Middletown, N.Y.) improved from her last time out, tallying a score of 261.00, which earned her a third-place finish.

Villanova Press Release

After day one of competition at the Quad Meet this weekend, the Villanova women’s swimming team (2-2) trails the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (1-0) by 14 points, 79-65, heading into the Saturday. The Wildcats lead Georgetown (0-2), 93-54, and Seton Hall (6-0), 104-40, through 16 events.

The women ended the evening with four first-place victories, five-second place and three third-place finishes. Freshman Gabby Daigneault (Montreal, Quebec/William H. Hall), freshman Heather Farley (Mendota Heights, Minn./Convent of the Visitation), junior Fiona Hardie (Hampshire, England/Bournemouth School) and junior Kaisla Kollanus (Hyvinkaa, Finland/Makelanrinteen Iukio) also earned the women’s first NCAA B cut time in the 400 Medley Relay. With a finish of 3:53.78, the women beat the standard time of 3:55.87 by over two seconds.

The Wildcats got off to a good start when Kollanus, Hardie, senior Katrin Heider (Bergisch Gladbach, Germany/Herkenrath) and senior Sara Jurek (Gilbert, Ariz./Chandler) took first in the 200 freestyle relay to open the event. Finishing with a time of 1:35.84, they narrowly edged the Rutgers’ relay for the win. It came as the groups’ top finish of the year after a 1:36.73 mark against Connecticut on Oct. 24.

Jurek would go on to get first in the following event, the 200 freestyle, with a time of 1:52.56. Jessica Randolph placed second in the race with a time of 1:52.62 as Jurek clipped her by six-hundredths of a second for the close finish.

Later in the event, Kollanus touched the wall of the 50 freestyle at 23.59 for the third Wildcat victory. It also marked the top Villanova women’s 50 free finish on the fall.
Sophomore Emily Mayo (Centennial, Colo./Arapahoe) grabbed the final first place finish for VU in the 1000 free at 10:06.36 as the Wildcats swept the race when freshman Caitlin Daday (Allentown, Pa./Allentown Central Catholic) finished second (10:08.54) and sophomore Erin Merkle (York, Pa./York Suburban) came in third (10:20.25).

Hardie earned a second place finish in the 200 butterfly at 2:03.92 while Daigneault finished second in the 100 backstroke with a time of 57.30. Daigneault also earned a third-place mark in the 200 IM at 2:06.60.

The first day of the Quad Meet was highlighted by the Wildcats’ second-place 400 medley relay finish that earned the squad its first NCAA B cut. `Nova also took third in the event when freshman Mary Spillane (Trumbull, Conn./Academy of Our Lady of Mercy), freshman Olivia Cacciatora (Rockford, Ill./Belvidere North), sophomore Kristin Haufler (Ashburn, Va./Briar Woods) and Jurek concluded at 3:57.19.

Georgetown Press Release

The Georgetown University swimming and diving squad turned in a strong performance in the first day of the BIG EAST Quad Meet at the Sonny Werblin Recreational Center on campus at Rutgers.
The Hoyas got its first taste of conference competition matching up with Villanova and Seton Hall, in addition to former conference mate Rutgers on Friday afternoon in a two-day preview of February’s BIG EAST Championships.

The women’s team started strong as the quartet of Bailey Page, Kirsten Peterson, Erin Timochenko and Erica Fabbri took third place overall in the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:37.90.
The men’s squad also earned a third place finish with Will Leach, Michael Young, David Chung and Michael Smigelski turning in a time of 1:26.50.

Freshman Christine Ryan finished fourth in the women’s 200 freestyle in 1:53.41, while Page finished seventh overall. Freshman Daniel Ross scored points for the Hoyas with a third place finish in 1:44.87.

Freshman Edward Spinelli earned a fourth place finish in the men’s 100 backstroke, finishing in 53.47, while junior Kurt Muehlheuser finished less than a second behind in sixth place.

Freshman Haley Owens earned another third place finish for the Hoyas in the women’s 100 breaststroke with a time of 1:06.61. On the men’s side freshman Matt Glockenmeier finished fifth overall in 1:01.58.

In the women’s 200 butterfly freshman Shana McLaughlin earned a fourth place finish, turning in a time of 2:07.77, while junior Lauren Ward finished eighth overall. On the men’s side, freshman Samuel Delise finished second overall in 1:55.12, while senior Liuben Chipev finished fifth in 2:01.42.

Fabbri finished third overall in the 50 yard freestyle in 24.24, while Page finished fifth in 24.39. Leach earned a second place finish on the men’s side with a time of 21.76. Chung finished fifth in 22.05.

The freshman duo of Ross and DeLise took second and third place, respectively in the men’s 200 individual medley. Ross finished in 1:55.99, while DeLise came in at 1:58.81. Sophomore Evan Grey and Glockenmeier also placed fifth and seventh, respectively to score points for the Hoyas.

Ryan finished sixth overall for the women in the 1000 freestyle with a time of 10:34.16. On the men’s side the Blue & Gray featured three of the top seven finishers, highlighted by freshman Chase Ladman’s second place finish in 9:49.67. Freshman Peter Kalibat finished fourth overall with a 10:02.26, while junior Greg Romanov finished seventh in 10:09.96.

The Hoyas closed the first day at the BIG EAST Quad Meet taking fifth place in the women’s 400 medley relay, as Kathleen Duncalf, Owens, Fabbri and Page finished in 3:57.55. The men’s squad of Edward Spinelli, DeLise, Martin Vanin and Leach finished second overall in 3:32.50.

In the three-meter diving competition senior Lauren Kahan scored 190.85 and sophomore Sara Jaklitsch scored 190.55 to finish fourth and fifth, respectively.

Seton Hall Press Release

The Seton Hall men’s swimming & diving team sent a clear message to BIG EAST rivals Georgetown and Villanova on day one of a tri-meet hosted by Rutgers, claiming top honors in seven of 10 events held on Friday.

In their first outing since easing past another conference foe in Providence last weekend, five different Pirates collected individual first-place finishes – all of whom are either in their first or second season competing for the blue & white.

Freshman Noah Yanchulis (Arnold, Md.) continued to add to a mounting résumé that already includes several highlights just over one month into his collegiate career. Arnold left Piscataway with two victories as an individual on day one, out-pacing the field in both the 200-free and 200-IM.

Yanchulis entered the meet as the conference’s top seed in the 200-free and delivered a season-best time of 1:42.84 to hold off Villanova’s Jason Moyer (1:43.69) and Daniel Ross of Georgetown (1:44.87) who rank second and third in the event respectively. Teammate Tim Bosse (New Windsor, N.Y.) added a fourth-place effort, clocking in at 1:45.41 and was followed by freshman Jason Tan (Bridgewater, N.J.) in fifth (1:45.96).

In the 200-IM, Yanchulis unseated top seed Samuel DeLise (Georgetown) and motored his way to the top time in the league this season, reaching the wall at the 1:55.73 mark. Ross placed second, ahead of DeLise in third while Seton Hall freshman Zohar Suslovich (Holon, Israel) took fourth with a 1:59.23 showing.

Perhaps the most exciting performance of the day belonged to newcomer Matt Zebrowski (Sayreville, N.J.) who came on late in 200-fly action to erase a deficit and earn a thrilling win. Already the owner of the mark to beat in the conference, Zebrowski trailed second-seeded DeLise by 1.27 seconds heading into the final leg but pushed past the Hoya freshman at the finish to finish in 1:55.11 and claim victory by a .01-second margin.

Fellow Pirate Seth Underwood (Collegeville, Pa.) made it a pair of Seton Hall swimmers in the top-three of the event, registering a time of 1:58.74.

Two more freshmen helped set the pace in the 100-breast as Sean Sali (Bridgewater, N.J.) and Collin Dunn (Litchfield, Conn.) took the top-two spots. Sali earned first-place after reaching the finish in 59.08 while Dunn touched the wall in 59.99 as the only other competitor to crack the one-minute mark.

In distance competition, Cody Wimmer (Macungie, Pa.) out-lasted the field and swam to a time of 9:43.44, better than six seconds in front of runner-up Chase Ladman of Georgetown. Sophomore Ian Campbell (Corvallis, Ore.) added a fifth-place time of 10:04.39.

The Hall’s sixth individual win belonged to sophomore Keith Carlino (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) who recorded a 100-back time of 52.51 to hold off Villanova’s Michael Rodriguez by .08 seconds. Suslovich picked up a third-place finish (53.25) while Michael Mattera (Deer Park, N.Y.) clocked in fifth (53.53).

Carlino eclipsed his season-best time in the 100-back to kick off the 400-medley relay as well, leading off with a 52.01 that set the tone for a squad that also included Sali, Bosse and Zach DeLillo (Sinking Spring, Pa.). The next three in line did their part to expand the lead and the Pirates finished with a victorious time of 3:28.53.

Bosse, Carlino and DeLillo also teamed with James Logan (Wallingford, Pa.) to claim second in the 200-free relay, completing the event just one second off the winning pace (1:26.41).

Senior standout Ben Mitchell (Milford, Pa.) collected his own runner-up finish in one-meter diving competition, recording 251.15 points to lead a trio of Pirates in the top-four. Alex Pfisterer (Mohnton, Pa.) placed third (233.65), slightly ahead of teammate Eric Davidson (Overland Park, Kan.) in fourth (231.25).

Results: Big East Quad Meet, Day One

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use