BIG EAST Championships Day Three Finals Preview
2/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
ITHACA, N.Y. - The Seton Hall swimming & diving squads continued their push to challenge for a team title at the 2015 BIG EAST Championships on Friday morning, earning a total of 15 entries into the day's championship finals in the pool across five events.
Following two full days of competition, the SHU men rank third out of five teams with 203 points will the women sit in fourth on the team leaderboard with 147 points.
A total of 29 Pirates swam their way into the night session with their efforts this morning as the two teams combined to record 35 top-16 times.
Keith Carlino (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) delivered the performance of the day thus far for the men, taking the top seed in the 100-back with a time of 50.73. Freshman Zohar Suslovich (Holon, Israel) clocked in at 51.15 to rank sixth while fellow newcomer Michael Mattera (Deer Park, N.Y.) will compete in the B final.
The Hall will feature at least three competitors in all five swimming events on the men's side;; including a group of five in the 400-IM that was led by 500-free bronze medalist Cody Wimmer (Macungie, Pa.) who will appear in a championship race for the second-straight day.
Noah Yanchulis (Arnold, Md.) will also swim for a title for the second time in as many days after registering the third-fastest 200-free mark (1:41.00) in prelim action. Yanchulis was less than .7 seconds off the front-running pace while Tim Bosse (New Windsor, N.Y.) will lead three Pirates in the B final after finishing just .18 seconds outside the top-eight.
Three of eight available spots in the 100-breast final belong to The Hall after James Logan (Wallingford, Pa.) and Suslovich each recorded top-five times follow by freshman Sean Sali (Bridgewater, N.J.) in seventh.
SHU also landed a tandem of swimmers in the top-five of the 100-fly as Zach DeLillo (Sinking Spring, Pa.) and Matt Zebrowski (Sayreville, N.J.) posted times that were just .12 seconds apart to rank fourth and fifth respectively.
From the diving board, senior Ben Mitchell (Milford, Pa.) will look to complete his second consecutive sweep of the conference meet, taking to the three-meter board after claiming gold from one meter on Wednesday.
On the women's side, a record-setting performance by Tessa Lindner (Sun Prairie, Wisc.) headlined the opening session as the sophomore claimed the fourth seed in tonight's 100-fly final by eclipsing a 21-year-old mark held by SHU Athletics Hall of Famer Jen Heider (56.28) with a 55.88 mark. Freshman Sydney Simpson (Tallahassee, Fla.) also came in under the previous standard; ranking sixth with a time of 56.06.
It was one of two top-six times for Simpson who also garnered a berth in the 100-breast championship with a fifth-seeded time of 1:05.42. 2014 silver-medalist stands as one of the top-three seeds after clocking in at 1:05.21.
Senior Gabi Levine (Garwood, N.J.) is one-half of a Pirate duo that will battle for a 100-back crown tonight after ranking seventh this morning (57.56). Sophomore Melody Bush (Guelph, Ontario) who captured a bronze medal in the event last year is back in the final after finishing eighth in prelims.
Levine was also only .28 seconds outside the top-eight in the 100-fly, earning one of 10 B final times for the SHU women on Friday.
Freshmen Kylene Ronayne (Springfield, Pa.) (12th, 1:54.59) and Sam Shirtliff (Camp Hill, Pa.) (16th, 1:55.86) paced the squad in the 200-free.
Alexa Santis (Ijamsville, Md.) (12th, 100-back/12th 400-IM) and Megan Mostoller (Cheshire, Conn.) (14th, 100-breast/16th, 400-IM) each turned in two top-16 times while a pair of sophomores in Cece Henry (St. Charles, Mo.) (400-IM) and Annie Bucca (New Brunswick, N.J.) (100-breast) ranked 13th in their respective events.
Courtney Regan (Southbury, Conn.) is the top-seeded Pirate in the 400-IM after placing 10th with a time of 4:35.40.
Friday night's schedule will also feature the 400-medley relay event on both sides.
As is the case throughout the four-day meet the finals will be streamed live on the BIG EAST Digital Network which is available online or on mobile devices through FOX Sports Go.
Finals are set to begin at 6:00 p.m. tonight
Day Three Finals Cheat Sheet
400-IM
WOMEN
B FINAL
10. Courtney Regan - 4:35.40
12. Alexa Santis - 4:36.55
13. Cece Henry - 4:36.99
16. Megan Mostoller - 4:39.92
MEN
A FINAL
8. Cody Wimmer - 4:07.78
B FINAL
11. Ian Campbell - 4:10.11
12. Michael Mattera - 4:10.28
14. Steve Hausmann - 4:12.00
15. Seth Underwood - 4:12.31
100-FLY
WOMEN
A FINAL
4. Tessa Lindner - 55.88 - SCHOOL RECORD
6. Sydney Simpson - 56.06
B FINAL
9. Gabi Levine - 57.38
MEN
A FINAL
4. Zach DeLillo - 50.49
5. Matthew Zebrowski - 50.61
B FINAL
13. Ryan Lockhart - 52.23
200-FREE
WOMEN
B FINAL
12. Kylene Ronayne - 1:54.59
16. Sam Shirtliff - 1:55.86
MEN
A FINAL
3. Noah Yanchulis - 1:41.00
B FINAL
9. Tim Bosse - 1:41.92
13. Cooper Lindsley - 1:42.79
14. Jason Tan - 1:43.12
100-BREAST
WOMEN
A FINAL
3. Megan Mallon - 1:05.21
5. Sydney Simpson - 1:05.42
B FINAL
13. Annie Bucca - 1:08.21
14. Megan Mostoller - 1:08.40
MEN
A FINAL
4. Zach DeLillo - 57.25
5. Zohar Suslovich - 57.53
7. Sean Sali - 57.77
B FINAL
13. Collin Dunn - 59.52
100-BACK
WOMEN
A FINAL
7. Gabi Levine - 57.56
8. Melody Bush - 57.91
B FINAL
12. Alexa Santis - 59.38
MEN
A FINAL
1. Keith Carlino - 50.73
6. Zohar Suslovich - 51.15
B FINAL
15. Michael Mattera - 53.51
400-MEDLEY RELAY
WOMEN
4. Seton Hall - 3:54.75
MEN
4. Seton Hall - 3:28.53
