By Ann Brunn
Staff Writer
The women’s swimming and diving team improved to 5-0 on the season and 3-0 in NJAC competition with a 167-71 victory over Kean University on Jan. 20.
Right out of the gate, the Lions dominated. Sophomore Meagan Healey, junior breast Chiara Mennonna, sophomore fly Kori Jelinek and junior free Melanie Fosko claimed the top times in the 400-Medley Relay at 4:15.03, which was six seconds ahead of the rest of the field.
Freshman free Cameron Carrazza notched second place in the 1,000-Free event with a time of 11:35.38. Coming in first in the 200-Free was sophomore fly Zoe Chan with a time of 2:00.70, while freshman free Faith Cortright came in second with a time of 2:05.65.
The Lions then secured the top three finishes in the 100-Back, with Sofia Harty going 1:03.21 for the win, junior back Katie Doyle posting a time of 1:06.15 and senior free Kazia Moore following close behind at 1:06.19.
Mennonna took first place in the 100-Breast with a time of 1:11.19 as Jelinek swam for second and senior fly Samantha Askin finished in third. Junior free Nikki Meskin swam 11 seconds ahead of the field for a first place finish in the 200-Fly.
Freshman free Rachel Hannah along with senior breast Annie Menninger swept the 50-Free as Hannah clocked a time of 25.63 while Menninger touched the wall at 25.77.
The Lions came out of the break and picked up three event wins. Freshman free Shannon Hesse claimed the 100-Free with a time of 56.22, Harty notched her second event win of the day in the 200-Back at 2:17.53 and Chan won the 200-Breast with a time of 2:33.15.
Finishing in 5:31.20 in the 500-Free, Cortright picked up her first event win as a Lion, while Jelinek won the 100-Fly at 1:01.72 which was two seconds ahead of the field.
Fosko grabbed the win in the 200-IM, stopping the clock at 2:20.49. Senior sprint Anna Kisker, Askin, Menninger and Moore won the 200-Free relay, combining for a time of 1:44.97 in the final event of the day.
For the highlight of the diving event, sophomore Hailey Stack posted a regional qualifying score of 409.95 in the 1-meter.
The Lions celebrated their seniors on Saturday, Jan. 25, in their dual meet against Rowan University before heading to William Paterson University on Saturday, Feb. 1, in what will be their last meet as a team before the MET Conference Championships.
