Pirate magic took place as the Seton Hall Pirates Men’s and Women’s Swimming and Diving Teams took part in the Big East Championships.
In the team standings, The Hall’s Men’s team finished fourth in the team standings with 518.5 points, but there were many records set for the program. The same rang true for the women’s side, as they finished fifth in the standings with 894 points in an impressive Big East Championship stretch.
On day one of this four-day event, Seton Hall’s Men’s Team took first place in the Medley Relay. A squad of all juniors featuring Ross Pantano, Justin Oosterwyk, Gennrino Conzemius, and Thomas Minar finished with a time of 1:27.89 in the finals to set a program-record time and secure a victory.
The Pirates also finished third in the Men’s 800 Free Relay to finish day one at second place in the team rankings.
Seton Hall’s Women’s team had a fifth-place finish in both the Women’s 800 Free Relay and the 200 Free Relay. After the first day of events, they sat at fifth in the team rankings through the fifth event.
On the second day, multiple Pirates put up personal bests to secure crucial points for this Pirates team.
For the women’s side, Mandy Zajdzinski finished with a win in the 500 Free Consolation Final with a personal best of 4:53.18.
As for the 50 Free Consolation Finals Jose McCartney put forth an impressive effort to finish in third place with a time of 23.70.
Seton Hall set yet another program record in the 200 Free Relay, as Josie McCartney, Natalie, Heim, Leiya Istambouli, and Cornelia Jerresand touched the wall with a time of 1:33.17. This finish was good for third place in the event and kept them at fifth place through day two.
The men had an impressive day on day two as well, Sean Vizzard had a personal best of 4:25.43 in the 500 Free Final and picked up third place.
Pantano also set a personal best with 1:48.09 to finish fourth place in the 200 IM Championship Final.
Another personal best was set by Oosterwyk as he finished with 21.05 in the 50 Free Consolation Final.
Minar joined the personal best club in that event and secure the Pirates a second-place finish in the 50 Free Championship Final with a time of 20.34.
Although they fell to fourth in the Team Rankings, the Men’s team had a strong finish to day two and showed the improvements they all made as a unit over the offseason.
The Pirates also held first place through the fourth Men’s diving event, as Quinn Murtha finished in fourth place with a 12-dive score of 525.50.
On Friday, the Pirates did not slow down, in fact, they picked up the speed.
The women had a solid start, as Heidi Dickson swam for a personal best of 4:29.08 in the 400 IM Consolation Final for second place in that category. Meanwhile, Allie Waggoner made it to the 400 IM Final and snagged sixth place for Seton Hall.
The personal-bests kept coming in as Jose McCartney, the sophomore, finished with a time of 55.63 for seventh place in the 100 Fly Finals.
In the 100 Breaststroke, the Pirates had a great event, with an eighth-place finish in the Final but also a great Consolation group.
Lea Moeller finished first in the Consolation Final while Meredith Mutter finished right behind in second with a personal best with Nicole Bastian achieving a personal best as well.
The men’s team had an impressive third day as well, as Vizzard got another personal best in the 400 IM Consolation final. The freshman finished with a time of 4:00.00 as his future is bright at The Hall.
Oosterwyk had a huge 100 Fly as he reigned victoriously and finished with a winning time of 47.75 to take Big East Championship for 100 Yard Butterfly. He won the event in dramatic fashion as the swimmer from Georgetown right behind him was just 11 tenths of a second behind Oosterwyk.
The 200 Free saw Minar take home a personal best of 1:40.30 to add another notch into his already impressive weekend. While Ben LaClair scooped a major victory for Seton Hall as he finished second for a season-best time of 1:37.85 in the Championship race.
Justin Lopez had a first-place finish in the 100 Breaststroke Consolation final, while Conzemius had a personal best as well for fourth place in the Championship.
Pantano made it happen yet again, as he impressed yet again in the 100 Back for a time of 48.64, and a second-place finish.
The day ended off quite strong for the Pirates, Pantano, Conzemius, Oosterwyk, and LaClair won the 400 Medley relay to take yet another first-place finish for Seton Hall. Their time of 3:15.19 was an impressive win that had Seton Hall at fourth after day three.
Saturday night was where the Pirates were to finish the job and continue the momentum from before.
This rang true, as even more personal bests were set, and victories were to be had.
Waggoner had a fifth-place finish in the 1650 Free Championship while Zajdzinski had a personal best for that event.
Heim picked up a fourth-place finish in the 100 Free Championship, and the 200 Breastroke Consolation Final saw two great performances as well.
Mutter was able to take the 200 Breastroke Consolation Final, while Bastian had a personal-best of 2:22:49 to grab third.
The Pirates also had a player in the Championship Final as Lauren Schofield finished in sixth as a freshman.
Sierra Cripps was also able to get into a final for the 200 Yard Butterfly, and she grabbed third place in the Finals.
Seton Hall had yet another top-three finish, this time in the 400 Yard Freestyle relay with Leiya Istambouli, Cornelia Jerresand, McCartney, and Heim finishing with a time of 3:25.54 that was just shy of a program record. This would conclude another phenomenal year of Big East Championships for the Women’s squad.
The Pirates finished in fourth place in diving as well, Murtha placed second in the Championship Final for 3 Meter Diving.
For the Men’s team, the wins continued on their side as well. Vizzard took the Championship for the 1650 with a time of 15:08.48 for not just a Championship, but an NCAA B and a school record also.
Pantano had yet another personal best, this time in the 200 Back Championship with an impressive time of 1:44.32.
Conzemius had another personal-best in the 200 Breaststroke Consolation, he won that race with a time of 2:02.12 while Lopez grabbed third place and a personal best with 2:04.54.
The Pirates have now added more Championships to their history, and players have added many personal bests to their resumes in a very successful weekend for the program.
