Meet of the Week: Scranton vs. Susquehanna

By Brian Savard

SCRANTON, Pennsylvania, December 1. SCRANTON'S women's team and Susquehanna's men's team left the SwimmingWorldMagazine.com Meet of the Week undefeated.

With the win, both the Royal women and the Crusader men improved to 6-0 overall and 3-0 in the Landmark Conference.

Scranton head coach Tomm Evans said that his swimmer's performances were spot on.

"There were a bunch of positive surprises throughout the meet," Evans said. "Erin O'Connor and Joe Veselovsky had fantastic 400 IM swims, Lauren Wieland had a great 200 freestyle and Jack Cook did amazing in his 200 backstroke."

Susquehanna assistant coach Katie Robbins echoed similar sentiments.

"It's always great to swim against Scranton, and our swimmers fed off of their team's energy," Robbins said. "It was a very good meet all around, and we look forward to swimming against them again in February."

Women's Results

Team Score
Scranton took down Landmark opponent Susquehanna by a score of 112-88.

400 medley relay
Scranton's Lauren Hosko overcame a 2.5-second deficit in the 100 butterfly leg, overtaking Susquehanna's Sarah Springer with a 1:01.28 split. The grouping of Erin O'Connor, Laura Joyce, Hosko and Eliza Welling posted the race's top time of 4:18.22. Susquehanna's "A" and "B" relays placed second and third, respectively, with times of 4:23.82 and 4:31.02.

1650 freestyle
Aileen Silvestri of Scranton held a solid lead throughout the majority of the mile and touched first in 19:26.21. Scranton's Allison Sampson glided in second with a 19:32.56 time while Susquehanna's Kelly Leighton placed third (19:36.96).

200 freestyle
In one of the meet's most hyped races, Scranton's Lauren Wieland pulled out a decisive 2:01.99 victory. Hosko and Christie Savard of Susquehanna battled it out for second, and Hosko topped Savard with a 2:05.61 time. Savard settled for third with a 2:06.44.

50 freestyle
Scranton went one-two in the two-lap sprint, as Danielle Heffernan and Brianna McArdle took first and second with times of 27.52 and 27.75, respectively. Susquehanna's Julie Yingling stopped the clock for a third-place worthy 27.51.

400 IM
O'Connor breezed past everyone in the 400 IM, taking the event in a 4:54.66 time. Maria Borowski from Scranton sealed a second-place finish in the 400 IM with a 1:06 100 freestyle leg, cruising in with a 5:09.24 finish. Susquehanna's Abby Letterese rounded out the top three with a 5:10.81 performance.

200 butterfly
Brittany Reyes of Scranton held off a strong last 50 by Susquehanna's Melissa Gilpin and finished the race in 2:31.04. Gilpin clocked a second-place 2:32.01 while Scranton's Gina Fullam took third with a 2:33.54.

100 freestyle
Heffernan claimed the meet's second sprint freestyle event with a 57.93 mark. Cristina Los of Susquehanna cracked the one-minute barrier to take second (59.60) while Welling came in third (1:00.09).

200 backstroke
Savard avenged her 200 freestyle defeat by edging out Wieland in the 200 backstroke (2:16.08). Wieland touched closely behind with a 2:16.29 while Hosko picked up the third-place spot (2:20.58).

500 freestyle
Scranton responded with another one-two finish, this time in the 500 freestyle. O'Connor notched win number two with a 5:34.49 and Mary Pat DeHaven cranked out a second-place finish of 5:39.57. Susquehanna's Lauren Snyder edged out Leighton by .02 for third place (5:47.09).

200 breaststroke
Joyce rolled out 39 splits for each 50 in her final 150 yards, taking the race in 2:34.84. Moretti fielded a second-place 2:39.60 performance while Amie Leonard of Scranton followed a hair behind Moretti (2:39.63).

400 freestyle relay
The purple and white continued reign over the Crusaders in the final relay as the grouping of Heffernan, Jillian Mishko, Welling and Wieland churned out a 3:55.85 win. Susquehanna's "A" relay took second (4:05.60) while Scranton's "B" relay placed third (4:06.57).

Men's Results

Team Score
Susquehanna extended its best start in school history to 6-0 with a 108-80 handling of Scranton.

400 medley relay
Both Susquehanna's "A" and "B" relays disqualified in the event. Scranton's grouping of Jack Cook, Chris Cassidy, Joe Veselovsky and Joe Costello, which originally appeared to place second, picked up the first-place points with a 3:48.38 time. Susquehanna's "C" relay nabbed second place for the Crusaders with a 4:08.78 finish.

1650 freestyle
Andrew Lyon of Susquehanna held the lead for most of the 66-lap distance and finished first with a 17:49.87 time. Alex Willcox of Susquehanna nailed down a sub-18 minute performance (17:54.84) while Susquehanna's Liv Thran completed the event's sweep with an 18:07.57 performance.

200 freestyle
Susquehanna's Joe Scheno led after the 50 split and never looked back, demolishing the 200 freestyle field with a 1:53.11 win. Derek Ruggiero of Scranton took second with a 1:58.38 time while his teammate, Matt Hosko, slammed the touchpad third by .01 with a 2:00.12 swim.

50 freestyle
The Crusaders dominated the shorter of the two freestyle sprints, sweeping the event's top three places. Jeff Fornadley slid under the 23-second barrier with a 22.72 swim. Jeff Kormanik nailed down the second-place spot (23.43) while Derek Wolf picked up the third-place standard (23.47).

400 IM
In perhaps the meet's most anticipated race, Veselovsky grinded out a solid 4:28.06 win in the 400 IM over Susquehanna's Alex Thurstlic (4:38.22). Rich Brinker of Susquehanna clocked a 4:49.72 and took up the third-place spot.

200 butterfly
Willcox used his walls and breakouts to propel him to a 2:04.88 win. Matt Hosko of Scranton placed second (2:13.67) while Susquehanna's Jeff Gorcyca took third (2:22.76).

100 freestyle
Fornadley tallied his second win with his sixth 100 freestyle swim below 50 seconds on the season (48.89). Kormanik conjured up the second-place honor with a 51.69 while Ruggiero came in third (52.36).

200 backstroke
Cook crushed the backstroke competition, launching a scorching 2:02.83 win. Brinker touched second with a 2:11.44 while Steve Grieb of Susquehanna placed third (2:17.12).

500 freestyle
Lyon led the entirety of the 500 as he downed Veselovsky with a 5:08.62 swim. Veselovsky settled for second with a 5:12.81 showing while Thran took third (5:18.79).

200 breaststroke
Gorcyca cruised to a 2:25.82 200 breaststroke victory. Cassidy and Brian Savard of Susquehanna battled it out for second, but Cassidy's superior front half staved off Savard. Cassidy and Savard swam times of 2:29.44 and 2:30.35, respectively.

400 freestyle relay
Susquehanna's grouping of Andrew Cole, Thurstlic, Wolf and Scheno teamed up to take the meet's final event in a 3:26.96 win. Scranton's "A" relay finished second (3:38.89) while Susquehanna's "B" relay came in third (3:40.47).

Looking Forward
The Royals are finished with dual meets until they return from their training trip to Miami. They will face off against the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy on Jan. 5, starting a four-meet road trip.

The Crusaders will take on the Blue Jays of Elizabethtown on Dec. 8 at home. Susquehanna will travel to Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., before coming back home to face King's College and Drew University in a double-dual meet on Jan. 12.

Letterese, Abby of Susquehanna

MOTW, Susquehanna at Scranton Map

Veselovsky, Joe of Scranton

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