Women's Swimming Escapes With Win Over Rivals St. Joseph's (L.I.)

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Helped by a pair of victories in the 200-yard medley relay and the 200-yard freestyle relay, the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's swimming team defeated sibling rivals St. Joseph's College (L.I.), 52-43, on Saturday afternoon at Brooklyn Technical High School as part of the "East vs. West" showdown.

The Lady Bears (2-5) defeat their rivals from Patchogue for the first time ever after dropping the five previous meetings dating back to 2009. The Golden Eagles (1-2) have now dropped two meets in a row.

Brooklyn got off to a quick start taking the 200-yard medley relay in dramatic style by .53 seconds with the quartet of Morgan Summers (Bellerose, N.Y./St. Mary's), Tina Wong (Brooklyn, N.Y./HS of Telecommunications Art and Technology), Jaclyn Montana (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bay Ridge Prep) and Rebecca Sacerio (Brooklyn, N.Y./Lincoln) putting up a time of 2:17.37 to give the Lady Bears an early 7-0 lead.

Brooklyn held the lead throughout the meet helped by second place finishes by Erin Collins (Breezy Point, N.Y./Fontbonne Hall) in the 50-yard freestyle (30.32) and Jillian O'Hara (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) in the 100-yard freestyle (1:05.43) to give the Lady Bears a 31-30 lead after the seventh event.

Patchogue responded taking the next two events, the 100-yard backstroke and 500-yard freestyle , to take their first lead of the meet at 40-39 with two events remaining.

The Lady Bears came into the 100-yard breaststroke trailing with Patchogue holding all the momentum having won the previous eight events. However, O'Hara would step up and record a time of 1:29.26 to earn a five-second victory over Patchogue to give Brooklyn a narrow 45-43 lead heading into the final relay of the meet.

The final event of the day, the 200-yard free relay, would prove to be the pivotal event of the day as a win by either team would seal the victory.  The foursome of Summers, Collins, Montana and O'Hara came through in the clutch for the Lady Bears notching a four-second win to clinch the meet and end the reign of dominance held by the Golden Eagles.

St. Joseph's has nearly a month off before returning to action on Friday, January 17th as they host HVIAC foe Sarah Lawrence at Brooklyn Technical High School with a start time of 7:30 p.m.