Players Mentioned
Pirates Set to Open 2016 BIG EAST Championships Wednesday
2/24/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
LIVE STREAM ON THE BIG EAST DIGITAL NETWORK (FOX SPORTS GO, 4 PM)
LIVE RESULTS Psych Sheets 
WATCH: TRAINING DAYS: WOMEN'S SWIMMING | WATCH: TRAINING DAYS - MEN'S RETURNEES
History can be made in more ways than one on Wednesday as the Seton Hall swimming & diving squads begin their push for a conference title on day one of four at the 2016 BIG EAST Championships from the Nassau Aquatic Center.
The entire meet will be shown live on the BIG EAST Digital Network and can be seen online or on mobile devices through the FOX Sports GO app.
The Pirates are in search of a first-ever team championship on both the men's and the women's side and will look to jump out to a fast start during an opening day slate in which several of the meet's headliners will wear blue & white.
A Massapequa native getting the chance to cap a decorated career close to home, Seton Hall senior Gabby Signorelli returns to the conference stage where she has swept all four gold medals en route to back-to-back Most Outstanding Female Diver awards over the last two years.
Women's one-meter diving competition will be the first to get underway Wednesday afternoon (4 p.m.) and should Signorelli top the field yet again, she would become the first five-time BIG EAST champion in program history - breaking a tie with SHU Athletics Hall of Fame swimmer Jennifer Heider-Berenyi and former teammate Ben Mitchell '15 who each etched their name on the championship banner on a total of four occasions.
In the pool, the day one schedule is set to kick-off at 6:00 p.m. and calls for a pair of relay races as both the men and women will vie for supremacy in the 800-freestyle and the 200-medley.
The Pirates have yet to capture a relay crown on either side in its history but the Seton Hall men will enter the night as the top seed in both events by virtue of season-best performers at November's Patriot Invitational - a championship-style meet hosted by George Mason.
In the 800-free relay, current team members Lior Grubert (Yehud-Monosson, Israel), Dakota Williams (Noank, Conn.) and Noah Yanchulis (Arnold, Md.) helped post a BIG EAST-leading mark of 6:49.16 that is over three seconds ahead of the standard held by defending men's team champions Xavier (6:52.50) entering the night.
One of two returning individual gold medalists for The Hall on the men's side along with Matt Zebrowski (Sayreville, N.J.), Yanchulis combined with two other Pirates headed to the Nassau Aquatic Center this week in Cooper Lindsley (Lancaster, Pa.) and Cody Wimmer (Macungie, Pa.) to help set a new school record of 6:43.09 in the event last season.
SHU and the Musketeers will also head into 200-medley showdown as the first and second seeds respectively with the 1:31.79 mark registered in part by Sean Sali (Bridgewater, N.J.), David Rowe (Cherry Hill, N.J.) and Williams setting the standard.
On the women's side, Seton Hall boasts a school-record holding squad of Aitana Robinson (London, Ontario), Megan Mallon (Glen Mills, Pa.), Tessa Lindner (Sun Prairie, Wis.) and Courtney McCardle (Hurley, N.Y.) whose 1:44.44 mark from November ranks fourth in the league entering Wednesday.
Three members of a school record-holding 800-free relay squad in Melody Bush (Guelph, Ontario), Rae Congdon (Ottawa, Ontario), and Cora Meehan (Noblesville, Ind.) are eligible to compete for The Hall this week but it was an entirely different group featuring Emily Barnard (Galloway, N.J.), Erica Naumann (Middletown, Conn.), Courtney Regan (Southbury, Conn.) and Kylene Ronayne (Springfield, Pa.) that recorded Seton Hall's top time to this point in the year (7:50.75).
The Pirates will be among five teams looking to dethrone defending women's champions Villanova but the Wildcats boast the fastest time in the league in both relay events to be held on day one.
2016 BIG EAST SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Nassau Aquatic Center
Day One - February 24
800-YARD FREESTYLE RELAY
WOMEN
School Record: Bush, Congdon, Kolackovsky, Meehan, 7:35.21 (2014)
2015-16 Conference Leader: Villanova - 7:22.74
Seton Hall Seed:
- 7:50.75 - (Ronayne, Barnard, Naumann, Regan - Patriot Invitational)
MEN
School Record: Yanchulis, Bosse, Lindsley, Wimmer 6:43.09 (2015)
2015-16 Conference Leader: Seton Hall - 6:49.16 (Xavier, 2nd, 6:52.50)
Seton Hall Seed:
- 6:49.16 - (Grubert, Williams, Bosse, Yanchulis - Patriot Invitational)
200-YARD MEDLEY RELAY
WOMEN
School Record: Robinson, Mallon, Lindner, McCardle, 1:44.44 (2015)
2015-16 Conference Leader: Villanova - 1:42.14
Seton Hall Seed:
- 1:44.44 - (Robinson, Mallon, Lindner, McCardle - Patriot Invitational)
MEN
School Record: Webster, Andrepont, D'Errico, Sadovsky, 1:29.11 (2009)
2015-16 Conference Leader: Seton Hall - 1:31.79 (Xavier, 2nd, 1:32.39)
Seton Hall Seed:
- 1:31.79 - (Carlino, Sali, Rowe, Williams - Patriot Invitational)
Women's one-meter diving prelims are set to begin at 4:00 p.m. with relay action slated to kick-off at 6:00 p.m. from the Nassau Aquatic Center.
Don't forget to follow @SHUSwimDive and @BIGEASTChamps on Twitter for updates and highlights throughout the week.
