FAIRFAX, Va.The Seton Hall swimming and diving teams wrapped up a successful Patriot Invitational on Sunday afternoon at George Mason University. The teams qualified a total of 27 swimmers and divers for the BIG EAST Championship, the largest amount of qualifiers in the history of the Seton Hall swimming and diving program. The men placed fourth at the Invitational with a total of 434 points, while the women placed fifth with 298 points. The Pirates had two individual victories at the event, as sophomore Angelo D'Errico (Syosset, N.Y.) won the 100 breaststroke and senior Jack Leavitt (East Boston, Mass.) won the 100 backstroke.
The men’s team placed second in both the 200 and 400 medley relays with a times of 1:34.54, and 3:25.39, respectively. Both relays were composed of Leavitt, D’Errico, Hidenaga Murakami (Los Angeles, Calif.) and Stan Sadovski (Brooklyn, N.Y.). Seton Hall also added a third place finish in the 200 freestyle relay, with the team of Sadovsky, Christopher Kearney (Leawood, Kan.), D’Errico and Leavitt. D’Errico also placed second in the 200 breaststroke. Leavitt added third place finish in the 200 backstroke and a seventh place finish in the 200 freestyle. Sadovsky and Murakami had a strong showing in the 100 butterfly, placing sixth and seventh, respectively, with times of 52.11 and 52.24. In addition, Murakami placed fourth in the 200 butterfly in 1:57.43 and Sadovsky swam to ninth place finish in the 50 freestyle, timing 21.48. Chris Prus (Southington, Conn.) also added a ninth place finish in the 400 individual medley, and Tim Curran (Beverly, Mass.) was ninth in the 100 breaststroke.
The women placed fourth in the 800 freestyle relay, composed of freshman Natalie Toczlowski (Sandwich, Mass.), Michelle Ducharme (Vernon, Conn.), Jessica Kolackovsky (Franklin Square, N.Y.), and Olivia Jackson (Wescosville, Pa.). Ducharme and Jackson swam strong for the Pirates in the 200 freestyle. Ducharme placed fourth in 1:55.76, while Jackson was fifth with 1:57.03. Haley Ottenbreit (North Branford, Conn.) swam to sixth in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:09.43. Kaitlyn Hafner (Cinnaminson, N.J.) swam to ninth place in the 400 individual medley, timing 4:38.69.
The Seton Hall swimming and diving teams will next compete at the U.S. Open swimming and diving championships, held at West Lafayette, Ind. on Nov. 30.
