Pirates in Fourth Through Day 3

East Meadow, N.Y. – The Seton Hall women's swimming & diving team is in the thick of the race at the 2017 BIG EAST Championships and a balanced effort Friday night gives the Pirates a chance to move up the leaderboard Saturday at the Nassau Aquatic Center on Long Island.

The Hall is currently in fourth place with 316 points, behind Xavier (362) and in front of Providence (155). Villanova has the lead with 689 points and Georgetown is in second with 422.

Junior Sydney Simpson (Tallahassee, Fla.) placed second in the 100 butterfly after touching in 54.42. Earlier in the day, she broke her own school record set at last year's championships by swimming an NCAA "B" cut time of 54.29 during preliminaries.

Also competing in the 100 fly was senior Tessa Lindner (Sun Prairie, Wisc.), who picked up 13 points for the Pirates by finishing sixth in 56.10.

Simpson won bronze in the 100 breaststroke (1:02.94), while freshmen Jordan Decker (Mason, Ohio) and Grace Endersby (Caldwell, N.J.) placed fifth and seventh, respectively.

Junior Courtney Regan (Southbury, Conn.) took fifth in the 400 IM with a time of 4:26.67 and freshman Elizabeth Sargent (Trumbull, Conn.) touched the wall in eighth place with a time of 4:30.16.

Sophomore Courtney McCardle (Hurley, N.Y.) placed eighth in the "A" final of the 200 free (1:52.14) and freshman Clara Capone (West Hartford, Conn.) won the "B" final with a time of 1:50.47.

The quartet of sophomore Aitana Robinson (London, Ontario), Simpson, Lindner and McCardle swam an impressive 3:48.66 in the 400 medley relay.

The Pirates look to move up the leaderboard in the final day of competition Saturday. They return to the pool for 10 a.m. prelims and 6 p.m. finals.