BIG EAST Championships Day Two Preview

Feb. 19, 2015

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The 2015 BIG EAST Championships presented by New York Life continue from Ithaca, N.Y. on Thursday as both the Seton Hall men's and women's swimming and diving squads will look to strengthen their position on the team leaderboard on the second of four days at the meet.

The Pirates are coming off an opening session in which they recorded five top-three performances, highlighted by a third BIG EAST championship captured by senior diver Ben Mitchell (Milford, Pa.).

Mitchell's one-meter title helped lift SHU into first on the men's side with 115 points and on Thursday, fellow reigning conference champion Gabby Signorelli (Massapequa, N.Y.) will get her first opportunity to add to a women's effort that garnered 62 points (fourth-place) on Wednesday, just four points shy of second-place Xavier.

While Signorelli will be looking for the Pirates' second gold medal this week and ninth in the last two years overall, several team members will be making their respective pushes in the pool as well.

Standout freshman Noah Yanchulis (Arnold, Md.) is a performer to watch on the men's side Thursday as the newcomer ranks as The Hall's top seed in two of the three scheduled individual events. Yanchulis was one of the top-two performers in the 200-IM during the regular season, delivering a time that was less than three tenths of a second off the BIG EAST-leading pace set by Georgetown's Daniel Ross (1:54.30).

The Arnold native is also seeded among the top-eight in the league in the 500-free having recorded a team-best time of 4:41.20 (7^th) at a Marist Dual Meet that came after the winter break.

Fellow newcomers Zohar Suslovich (Holon, Israel) and Matt Zebrowski (Sayreville, N.J.) are ranked 10^th and 12^th respectively in the 200-IM while another freshman Cody Wimmer (Macungie, Pa.) is seeded less than one second outside the top-eight in the 500-free.

In women's swimming competition, Seton Hall was paced by freshmen in all three individual events slated for day two.

Kylene Ronayne (Springfield, Pa.) owns one of the top-eight 200-IM times in the conference, an event in which she is joined in the top-16 seeds by senior Jane Ehret (Florida, N.Y.) and sophomore Melody Bush (Guelph, Ontario).

Sophomore Tessa Lindner (Sun Prairie, Wisc.) is also among the top-18 seeds as SHU will look to collect a host of points in what may be their strongest event of the day.

Kat Carson (Katy, Texas) has been the Pirates' top sprint performer throughout her debut campaign and is squarely among the top-10 contenders in the field with a season-best mark of 23.92.

In the 500-free, 12^th-seeded Courtney Regan (Southbury, Conn.) leads a Seton Hall contingent that also includes junior Cora Meehan (Noblesville, Ind.) who was the paced the team in the event last season.

Lindner, Carson and Bush were all a part of a record-setting 200-medley relay squad on day one and also swam on the 200-free relay team that earned the Pirates the fourth seed in the 200-free relay to be held Thursday. The SHU men are seeded fourth as well.

A live stream of the championships will once again be available on the BIG EAST Digital Network and FOX Sports Go. Preliminaries are scheduled to begin at 10:00 a.m. from the Ithaca College Athletics and Events Center Aquatics Pavilion with finals starting at 6:00 p.m.

Follow @SHUSwimDive on Twitter for updates and check back on SHUPirates.com for previews and recaps of the day's action.

500-YARD FREESTYLE

WOMEN

School Record: M. Ducharme, 4:55.76 (2006)
2014-15 Conference Leader: Emily Mayo (Villanova) - 4:47.56