Pirates Ready Up for 2021 BIG EAST Championships

Geneva, Ohio– The Seton Hall men's swimming team will begin the first of four days at BIG EAST Championships on Wednesday. This year's event will take place at the Spire Institute in Geneva, Ohio.

The Pirates took third last year behind strong performances throughout the team. In total, The Hall returns six members of the All-BIG EAST Team from a year ago. Included in that list is Ben LaClair (Belchertown, Mass.) who tied for the most accolades with seven all-conference honors.

In addition to LaClair who took first in the 200 Free, Seton Hall also returns BIG EAST Champions Thomas Minar (Oxford, Conn.) and Liam Cosgrove (Sea Girt, N.J.). Minar took first in the 50 Free as a freshman last year while the senior Cosgrove has won the 100 Fly each of the previous two years.

Also returning is Ben Puglessi (Ada, Mich.) and Caleb Smith (Charlottesville, Va.) who earned all-conference distinctions in the 400 Free Relay and 800 Free Relay, respectively. Rounding out the All-BIG EAST members from a year ago is Ross Pantano (Bennington, Neb.) who did so in the 200 and 400 Medley Relays and the 200 Back.

As a unit, the Pirates taut a strong class of returners as well as some talented newcomers such as Justen Lopez (Levittown, N.Y.) and Gideon Langenbusch (Oberhausen, Germany) who have seen success early in their collegiate career. The Pirates will look to claim their first BIG EAST Championship since they took first in both 2017 and 2018.

The Championships will be broadcast live on the BIG EAST Digital Network's YouTube channel. Links to the broadcasts as well as live results can be found on the team's schedule page.