Sacred Heart
ECAC Winter Championships
Somers Sets School & ECAC Record In Winning 200 Freestyle
12/2/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
The Sacred Heart University swimming and diving team compiled sits in fifth place with 477.50 points after three sessions at the 2017 ECAC Winter Championship. The three-day event concludes Sunday morning, beginning at 10:00 am at Nassau County Aquatics Center, the site of the 2018 NEC Championship, in East Meadow, N.Y.
Lauren Somers set a school record and ECAC Winter Championship record in winning the 200-freestyle, with a time of 1:51.37. The mark she broke was set in 2010 by Michelle Rodriguez (1:51.44). Somers swim is a career-best for the Pioneer sophomore, and one of 11 lifetime bests the Pioneers posted on the day. Every individual swim on Saturday was a season-best for the Pioneers.
NEC member Wagner leads the team standings with 976 points, with Fairfield in second place at 618 points and Columbia in third at 570. LIU Post has 496.50 points and is followed by SHU and American, at 458.50 points. LIU Brooklyn is sixth with 418.50, while other NEC members St. FRancis COllege (346) and Saint Francis University (308) are ninth and 10th respectively.
500 Freestyle
- All nine Pioneers in the 500-freestyle recorded season-best swims, paced by the 10th place finish of Margaret Flaherty in a time of 5:07.27
- Kim Hylan placed 18th in the event, with a swim of 5:13.29
- Nicole Sauve was 38th at 5:21.29, lowering her career-best effort in the event
- Shanna Haddow touched 41st at 5:22.60 and Lauren Spencer was 45th at 5:23.34
- Nikole Rudis placed 55th with a swim of 5:28.24 and Meredith Bertoni touched 64th at 5:24.21,
- Kaylyn Cuozzo finished 65th at 5:34.21, one-spot and .30 seconds in front of teammate Lindsey Dell'Isola
200 Individual Medley
- Fiona Maxwell was the Pioneers top-finisher, placing 21st with a swim of 2:12.14, while Jessica Poole touched at 2:13.22, good for 28th place
- Sarah Hensal 2:17,84), Julia Pusateri (2:18.78), Renee Russo (2:20.02), Jaclyn Pianese (2:24.84) and Dee Henry (2:30.63) all posted season-best swims in the event
50 Freestyle
- Lauren Somers posted the Pioneers best time of the day, touching at 23.77, good for fifth-place
- Alana Donabie lowered her personal-best time in the event by a full second, touching at 25.02, tying for 29th place
- Cuozzo started off the 50-freestyle for the Pioneers with a lifetime-best swim of 25.99, as did Pusateri at 26.06 and Rudis at 26.26
- Emily Peter (25.29), Anna Brown (25.53), Victoria Catizone (25.88) and Emily Shenk (26.16) all posted season-best efforts
- Haddow touched at 26.18
Diving
- Nicole Pergolotti placed 12th on the 3-meter board, amassing 120.05 points
400 Individual Medley
- Pianese started the Pioneers 400 IM effort with a career-best effort of 5:05.66
- Sauve followed with her second career-best time of the day, touching at 4:58.47
- Fiona Maxwell added a third career-best in the event, touching at 4:40.14, to place 11th
- Spencer posted a season-best time at 4:48.54, Hensal had a season-best time at 4:49.68
- Flaherty capped the teams 400 IM effort, with a career-best, at 4:42.57, and placed 15th
100 Butterfly
- Bertoni was the first Pioneer in the 100 fly and posted a career-best time of 1:02.17
- Maxwell's swim of 58.63 is a season-best, as is Peter's swim of 58.19, which was good for 11th and ninth place respectively
- Rudis tied for 19th as she went sub 1:00 for the second-time in her career, touching at a season-best time of 59.83
200 Freestyle
- Somers record breaking swim capped off four career-bests in the event for the Pioneers
- Hylan added a career-best at 1:55.18, to earn 10th place
- Flaherty placed 12th in the event, touching at 1:56.17, another career-best effort
- Haddow touched at 2:00.56, with Catizone finishing at 2:03.62 and Cuozzo at 2:09.11
100 Breaststroke
- Poole posted the best swim of the event, a season-best at 1:06.92 and finished 10th
- Pusateri swam a lifetime-best 1:07.80 to finish in 19th place
- Russo (1:12.65), Hensal (1:13.49), and Henry (1:15.67) all recorded best times of the season on the night
100 Backstroke
- Anna Brown gave SHU its best 100-back swim of the session, with a season-best swim of 59.49 and a seventh-place finish
- Donabie added another career-best with a 1:01.60 effort
- Shenk (1:02.33) Russo (1:04.18), Lindsey Dell'Isolo (1:04.87) all recorded their season-best times in the event.
Relays
- The A 200-freestyle relay touched at 1:39.06, good for eighth place, paced by a 23.50 split from Somers in the anchor spot
- The 200-freestyle B Relay swam to a time of 1:43.44, with Cuozzo (25.91) and Brown (25.31) pacing the effort
- The Pioneers A medley relay placed sixth with a swim of 3:58.76, six seconds faster than last season at the same meet
- The B 400-medley relay finished at 4:13.61, with a season-best leadoff leg of 1:00.91
