Lady Bears Take Second Place at Conference Meet

NEW ROCHELLE, NY – Six Lady Bears earned medals Saturday afternoon at the Hudson Valley Women's Athletic Conference (HVWAC) Invitational. The team took second place honors for the second straight year trailing only Sarah Lawrence in the final team scoring.

Sophomore Olivia O'Hara (Brooklyn, NY/Fontbonne Hall) took home a silver medal in all four of her events (three individual, one relay). She narrowly missed the gold medal in the 100 yard backstroke, finishing 2.38 seconds behind Sarah Lawrence winner, Suzie Elliot-Bearce. O'Hara's time of 1:19.44 was not only a personal best, but a school record in the event.

Swimming in her final meet as a Lady Bear, senior Brianne Reilly (Queens, NY/Frank Sinatra) captured three medals, two silvers and one bronze. Perhaps her best race though came in the 50 yard butterfly, the one race she didn't medal in. Reilly finished in fourth place but set a personal best time of 36.86 seconds.

The Lady Bears' best event came in the 50 yard freestyle, where co-captains Kristen McMaster (Brooklyn, NY/Fontbonne Hall) took home the only gold medal for St. Joseph's and Alison Nunziata (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) followed behind her in fourth place.

McMaster showed off her skills in both the sprints and long distance events. In addition to winning the 50 yard freestyle, McMaster finished second in the 500 yard freestyle in a St. Joseph's record time 7:21.26. She earned her third medal as a part of the 200 yard freestyle relay which took second place in 2:03.63, the fastest time this season.

Nunziata grabbed three medals of her own, silver in both relay events and a bronze in the 200 yard Individual Medley. She just missed grabbing a fourth medal in the 50 yard freestyle, finishing .02 seconds behind bronze medal winner, Libby Johnston.

Junior Elizabeth Fiorella (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney) captured three medals as well. She was a part of the silver medal winning 200 yard freestyle relay and took second place in the 50 yard breaststroke (45.01) and third place in the 200 yard freestyle (2:46.83).

Sophomore Laura Sonnylal (Richmond Hill, NY/Archbishop Molloy) grabbed two silver medals, as she helped both relays to a second place finish. Senior Jenna DeFillippo (Brooklyn, NY/Fontbonne Hall) earned points for St. Joseph's in her final meet, finishing in fourth place in the 50 yard backstroke. Also earning points for the Lady Bears were junior Darcy Crimi (Glendale, NY/Christ the King) and freshman Haley Betancourt (New York, NY/St. Vincent Ferrer).

Following the meet, McMaster, Nunziata, and O'Hara were named to the All-Conference Team for the second straight year.