Women's Swimming Downed by John Jay in First Meet of 2015

NEW YORK—Returning to the pool for their first action in the new year, the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's swimming team dropped a 51-41 decision to John Jay College last night at the John Jay Pool.

Freshman Brianna Minogue (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) and junior Jillian O'Hara (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) secured the lone event wins for the for the Lady Bears (1-2). Minogue captured the 100-yard freestyle clocking in at 1:09.66 and O'Hara triumphed in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:30.42. Both also contributed to the scoring with a pair of second place finishes in their other two individual events.

The Bloodhounds (5-3), who celebrated their senior day, won the first six events, but St. Joseph's managed to finish in second in each of those events to remain within reach. Minogue's freestyle victory snapped the John Jay streak before the hosts took two more events. The Lady Bears captured the final two events to close the gap with O'Hara's breaststroke triumph and Erin Collins (Breezy Point, N.Y./Fontbonne Hall), Victoria Benalcazar (Astoria, N.Y./St. John's Prep), O'Hara and Minogue teaming up to win the 200-yard freestyle relay (2:05.98) by five seconds.

Two Lady Bears also posted personal bests in the meet with Benalcazar in the 100-yard freestyle (1:15.20) and Leticia Salazar (Ridgewood, N.Y./Grover Cleveland) in the 500-yard freestyle (9:44.54).

St. Joseph's returns to the pool on January 20 for a double dual against Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foe The College of New Rochelle and future Skyline Conference rival College of Mount Saint Vincent. The meet starts at 7 p.m. at the CNR Wellness Center in New Rochelle.