Pirates Primed for Title Chase on Final Day
2/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
DAY FOUR PRELIMS | DAY THREE RESULTS | DAY TWO RESULTS | DAY ONE RESULTS
FOX SPORTS GO | EVENT SCHEDULE | PSYCH SHEETS l LIVE RESULTS l MEET MOBILE APP
ITHACA, N.Y. - After earning a combined 15 championship appearances on day three, the Seton Hall men's and women's swimming & diving teams came back on Saturday morning to deliver 13 top-eight times during preliminary action; setting up an exciting finish to the 2015 BIG EAST Championships.
The Seton Hall men sit in third place after three days and swam their way to eight more championship entries in four events this morning. On the women's side, The Hall ranks fourth out of six squads and saw five different team members make the cut for the chance to swim for a title this evening.
Senior James Logan (Wallingford, Pa.) and freshman Matt Zebrowski (Sayreville, N.J.) delivered the most noteworthy performances of Saturday's opening session, staking claim to the top seed in their respective events.
The reigning conference champion in the 200-breast, Logan out-paced all other competitors with a 2:03.56 mark. Freshman Sean Sali (Bridgewater, N.J.) was also among the top-five finishers in prelims while Collin Dunn (Litchfield, Conn.) and Steve Hausmann (North Attleboro, Mass.) will return for the night session as well after coming in among the top-16.
Zebrowski will be the top seed in the men's 200-fly after reaching the wall in 1:50.58; nearly two seconds ahead of second-seeded Noah Yanchulis (Arnold, Md.) - the newly crowned 200-free BIG EAST champion. Sophomore Seth Underwood (Collegeville, Pa.) gave the Pirates a trio of finalists with a prelim time that was seventh-best overall while Zach DeLillo (Sinking Spring, Pa.) nearly made it four; placing under .3 seconds outside the eighth position.
SHU also boasts three championship finalists in the men's 200-back as freshman Zohar Suslovich (Holon, Israel) posted the third-fastest time of the morning (1:51.16), just under one second ahead of teammate Keith Carlino (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) in fourth.
Junior Tim Bosse (New Windsor, N.Y.) rounded out the contingent with an eighth-seeded time of 1:52.73.
In the 100-free, freshman Jason Tan (Bridgewater, N.J.) paced the squad with a 12th-ranked time of 47.37 while Cooper Lindsley (Lancaster, Pa.) nearly added another top-16 effort; missing the cut by .15 seconds.
Freshman Sydney Simpson (Tallahassee, Fla.) headlined the women's program this morning, pacing a third event in which Seton Hall will send three entrants into the championship final. Simpson logged a 200-breast time of 2:22.83 to rank third overall, one spot aheas of Megan Mallon (Glen Mills, Pa.) who came within .04 seconds of her first conference title at 100 yards on Friday night.
Courtney Regan (Southbury, Conn.) cracked the top-eight as well while Megan Mostoller (Cheshire, Conn.) and Annie Bucca (New Brunswick, N.J.) are in position to add points in the night session as well.
New 100-fly school record holder Tessa Lindner (Sun Prairie, Wisc.) is once again among the top-four seeds in the 200-fly after reaching the wall in 2:05.99 in the opening swim. Classmate Cece Henry (St. Charles, Mo.) was within a second of contributing another top-eight time while senior Jane Ehret (Florida, N.Y.) will return as well after ranking 13th overall this morning.
Freshman Kylene Ronayne (Springfield, Pa.) will make another A final appearance after finishing the 200-back in a team-best 2:04.23 to take the seventh seed. Cora Meehan (Noblesville, Ind.) and Alexa Santis (Ijamsville, Md.) will comprise one-quarter of the B final field following a morning session in which they ranked 12th and 13th respectively.
The Seton Hall women were also led by a rookie in the 100-free as Kat Carson (Katy, Texas) clocked in at 52.97, just .07 seconds outside the top-10. Gabi Levine (Garwood, N.J.) notched the 15th-best time of the morning at 53.93.
Saturday night's events will also include the 1,650-freestyle, 400-free relay and the conclusion of women's one-meter diving competition as junior Gabby Signorelli (Massapequa, N.Y.) looks to join teammate Ben Mitchell (Milford, Pa.) in completing a sweep of all four diving titles over the last two years.
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.
The 1,650-free event is scheduled to begin at 3:45 p.m.
Follow @SHUSwimDive on Twitter for updates and check back on SHUPirates.com for previews and recaps of the day's action.
