Lady Bears Host First Ever Home Meet, Fall to Sarah Lawrence

BROOKLYN, NY – In a historic day for Brooklyn Athletics, the St. Joseph's College women's swimming team hosted the program's first home swim meet on Tuesday night at Brooklyn Technical High School.  St. Joseph's led after the eighth event, but ultimately fell to the Gryphons 77-69.

In front of a standing-room only crowd of SJC students, athletes, administration, family and friends, the Lady Bears also celebrated the Senior Night, recognizing the final meets for Jaclyn Collins (Brooklyn, NY/Fontbonne Hall), Jessica Lintner (Queens, NY/Frank Sinatra), Rolonda Robinson (Brooklyn, NY/St. Joseph's) and manager Ed Han.  Collins took second in the 500 freestyle (7:42.68), Lintner placed third in the 50 backstroke (48.40) and Robinson successfully completed the 200 freestyle, an event she wasn't able to finish at the start of the season.

Sophomore co-captain Kristen McMaster (Brooklyn, NY/Fontbonne Hall) paced the Lady Bears with dominating victories in the 50 freestyle (29.67) and 100 freestyle (1:05.36) and a second place finish in the 100 IM (1:23.41).  McMaster played a part in three of the Lady Bears four victories on the night also leading off the winning 200 freestyle relay team.

Sophomore Elizabeth Fiorella (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) recorded the other victory for the Lady Bears touching the wall in the 50 breaststroke in 40.80 for a four second victory.  Sophomore co-captain Alison Nunziata (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) placed in all her events taking second in the 50 breaststroke (44.86) and third in the 200 IM (3:04.71) and 50 butterfly (37.63) and anchored the winning 200 freestyle relay.

Freshmen Nicolle Velez (Brooklyn, NY/Archbishop Molloy) and Olivia O'Hara (Brooklyn, NY/Fontbonne Hall) combined for four second place finishes – Velez in the 50 fly (36.05) and the 100 fly (1:29.95) and O'Hara in the 200 IM (2:57.86) and the 100 breaststroke (1:26.96) and both swam the middle legs of the 200 freestyle relay.

Also turning in second place finishes were Catherine Muldoon (Brooklyn, NY/Fontbonne Hall) in the 200 freestyle (2:51.81) and Brianne Reilly (Queens, NY/Frank Sinatra) in the 50 backstroke (39.93).

The eight point loss was a marked improvement over the teams' earlier meeting this season where Sarah Lawrence took a 132-112 victory.  Sarah Lawrence won four of the first five events to take a 30-21 lead, but a one-two finish by Fiorella and Nunziata in the 50 breast, equalized the meet at 31-31. 

Two races later, McMaster won the 50 free and Tara Grogan placed third giving the Lady Bears their first lead of the meet,  43-41.  It would be short-lived as the Gryphons finished one-two in the 100 back and continued to win the next four events.

St. Josephs' closed out the season on a high note, edging out Sarah Lawrence in the final 200 freestyle relay in one of the most exciting races of the night, both teams neck-and-neck the entire race, inciting the crowd.  St. Joseph's led for the first two legs but Sarah Lawrence took a split second lead before the final leg and in a repeat of the Mount Saint Vincent meet, Nunziata delivered in the anchor position, winning by .82 seconds.

The Lady Bears conclude their inaugural varsity season at the .500 mark with a record of 4-4 – a great success considering the challenges the team faced this season finding regular practice times and four wins coming against programs who have their own pools.