Lady Bears Grab Second at HVWAC Invitational

NEW ROCHELLE, NY – Sophomore co-captain Kristen McMaster (Brooklyn, NY/Fontbonne Hall) medaled in all four events she swam pacing the Lady Bears swim team to a second place finish at the 2009 Hudson Valley Women's Athletic Conference Invitational held at College of New Rochelle on Friday night.

McMaster captured silver in the 50 yard freestyle (29.80) and 100 yard individual medley (1:24.36) while taking bronze in the 100 yard freestyle (1:07.51) – all season-best times.  She narrowly missed out on gold in the 50 free by 0.68 seconds, one of the closest races of the night.  McMaster also led off the 200 yard freestyle relay that won silver and secured the second place overall finish for St. Joseph's.

Junior Brianne Reilly (Queens, NY/Frank Sinatra) collected two individual medals, winning silver in the 50 yard breaststroke (43.00) and a bronze in the 100 yard individual medley (1:29.27).  The 50 yard breaststroke was the Lady Bears strongest event point-wise with sophomore Elizabeth Fiorella (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) finishing behind Reilly in 43.52 for the bronze medal and sophomore co-captain Alison Nunziata (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) gaining fourth in 44.17.  Nunziata also helped the Lady Bears earn silver in both relay events.

Freshmen Olivia O'Hara and Nicolle Velez (Brooklyn, NY/Archbishop Molloy) turned in strong performances again acquiring three medals each – O'Hara winning bronze in the 100 yard breaststroke (1:26.68) and Velez also winning bronze in 50 yard butterfly (38.49) and both capturing two silvers in the relay events.

Sarah Lawrence College won the Invitational dominating the competition winning all but two of the gold medals finishing with a score of 161.  The race for second place came down to the final event, with the McMaster/Velez/Nunziata/O'Hara 200 freestyle relay taking second giving the Lady Bears a one point edge in the team competition finishing with 51 points over College of New Rochelle.

Despite ongoing challenges with securing practice time – the Lady Bears had only practiced once in the week leading up to the event – nearly all the Lady Bears posted season-best times.

In award ceremonies after the event, McMaster, Nunziata and O'Hara were named to the 2009 HVWAC All-Conference Team.

St. Joseph's returns to the pool on Friday, December 11 travelling to Patchogue, NY for a sibling rivalry against St. Joseph's College-LI before taking off for the winter break.  Start time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. at the Danzi Athletic Center.