Waggoner's Benchmark Win Headlines Third Night of BIG EAST Champs

GENEVA, Oh. – Allie Waggoner's fifth BIG EAST title highlighted the Seton Hall women's swimming and diving team wrapped up the third day at the 2025 BIG EAST Championships on Wednesday night at Spire Academy.

Swimming
After claiming the top seed in prelims, Allie Waggoner was prepared to chase down her own record in the 400 IM earlier this season. In addition to Mia Sunseri in lane seven, the two departed the blocks and faced a much different start to the race than normal. While Waggoner's butterfly leg left her soundly in seventh after the first four laps, the introduction of backstroke immediately powered her back into first place. By the time the breaststroke leg ended, the race was over. As she raced to the wall to secure her fifth-career BIG EAST title, everyone watched the clock. With the clock reading 4:14.04, she earned the conference title but fell 0.22 seconds shy of breaking her record in the event.

"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts." 📚

- Aristotle....... probably talking about Allie Waggoner swimming the 400 IM.#HALLin🔵⚪️ │ #BIGEAST pic.twitter.com/VBoIs7W6xu
— Seton Hall Swimming & Diving (@SHUSwimDive) February 27, 2025

In the 200 freestyle, after a strong prelims performance, Natalie Heim was also in search of a school record and BIG EAST title. Heim maintained a strong pace in the opening hundred of the event, but the rest of the field, namely Xavier's Alexis Worrall, began to cut into Heim's pace. In the final fifty, Worrall pulled away from Heim as the two raced to the wall. The graduate student touched the wall in second place with a time of 1:48.71. Despite not claiming the win or the record, the former BIG EAST Champion did earn her second-ever trip to the 200 Freestyle podium with her second-place finish.

Outside of the championship finals, the Pirates collected many strong swims and best times. Sophomore Yosun Hacifazioglu and Lea Moeller produced career-best swims in the 100 breaststroke with times of 1:03.10 and 1:03.64, respectively. In the heat prior to Moeller and Hacifazioglu, Naima Hazell went a season-best time of 1:05.34. Lastly, in the 200 Freestyle, freshman Zeynep Aysoy went a career-best 1:53.59, over five seconds faster than her time from mid-seasons.

Heading into the fourth and final day of competition, the Pirates find themselves in fifth place with 576 points overall.

Villanova – 1031 points
UConn – 972
Xavier – 749
Georgetown – 667
Seton Hall – 576
Butler – 376
Providence – 330

What's Next
The Pirates return to action on Thursday for Day Four of the BIG EAST Championships. Events include the 1650 Free, 200 back, 100 free, 200 breast, 200 fly, three-meter board and 400 freestyle relay.