Swimming Returns In Peak Form Grounding Eagles

MORRISTOWN, NJ – After over a one month hiatus, the St. Joseph's College women's swimming team resumed their season in peak form, defeating the College of St. Elizabeth 70-52 on Tuesday night.  The Lady Bears won nine of the 14 events paced by Kristen McMaster (Brooklyn, NY/Fontbonne Hall) who was perfect in all her individual events.

The meet was originally scheduled to be St. Joseph's first-ever home swim meet, but technical difficulties with the pool at Brooklyn Technical High School forced the meet to be delayed a week and hosted by St. Elizabeth.  With the pool being unavailable for use, the Lady Bears have also had limited opportunities for practice during the break.  Despite these challenges and a long layoff, the Lady Bears picked up right where they left off and posted many season best times.

St. Joseph's jumped out to an early lead after winning the opening medley relay, but St. Elizabeth's took first in the next two events gaining a slim one point lead.  The Lady Bears then rolled off five straight first place finishes and placed both swimmers to build a 44-26 advantage at the first break.

Both teams traded wins in the next three events until Nicolle Velez (Brooklyn, NY/Archbishop Molloy) and Darcy Crimi (Glendale, NY/Christ the King) went 1-2 in the 50 yard butterfly to build an insurmountable lead with two events remaining and seal the win for St. Joe's.

McMaster captured her fourth victory this season in the 100 freestyle, setting a season-best time of 1:06.63.  She then went on to win the 50 freestyle, in a time of 29.59, posted her first victory in the 100 individual medley, setting another season-best time of 1:22.03.  The sophomore's three individual wins matches the feat she set last year in the program's first ever victory over Old Westbury.

Velez also took home victories in both her individual events – the 50 butterfly (37.63) and the 100 butterfly (1:29.12) – setting season-best times in both event, but shaving over five seconds off her previous best in the longer distance event for her first win of the season in that event.

Freshman Olivia O'Hara (Brooklyn, NY/Fontbonne Hall) placed in all three events she swam.  She won the 50 breaststroke (40.94) and the 100 breaststroke (1:31.09) and added a third place finish in the 200 individual medley (3:06.00).

Junior Brianne Reilly (Queens, NY/Frank Sinatra) (pictured) also had a strong performance, swimming a season-best 40.28 in the 50 backstroke for her second win this season.  She bested her time in the 100 IM by nearly four seconds (1:24.50) but was edged out by McMaster for the victory.

Senior Jaclyn Collins (Brooklyn, NY/Fontbonne Hall) also swam season-best times in the 200 free (2:48.72) and 500 free (7:48.44), finishing in second and third respectively.

Sophomores Alison Nunziata (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney), Elizabeth Fiorella (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Kearney), and Crimi added second place finishes while Jenna DeFillippo (Brooklyn, NY/Fontbonne Hall), Catherine Muldoon (Brooklyn, NY/Fontbonne Hall) and Jessica Lintner (Queens, NY/Frank Sinatra) contributed third place finishes to the overall victory.

The win improves St. Joseph's record to 2-2 in their first varsity season.  The Lady Bears will make their first extended road trip, travelling to Baltimore, MD to face College of Notre Dame on Saturday, January 23 at 2 p.m.