On Jan. 25, the Seton Hall men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams each came away with dominating victories over Saint Peter’s University. The men’s team defeated the Peacocks by a combined score of 192-91, and the women’s team also won in blowout fashion, 180-71.
In the victory, the Pirates swept the top three or four spots in many events and were rarely beaten by Peacock swimmers. Head coach Derek Sapp was impressed with his entire team, but he was able to pick two names that stood out in particular.
“Heidi Dickson had a really solid meet, she won three individual events, and Ben LaClair stepped up big time in the 1,000 fly (butterfly event) and he’s becoming a very consistent swimmer for us,” Sapp said.
Dickson took home the top spot in the women’s 200-yard butterfly, the 200-yard IM and the 200-yard freestyle. LaClair won the 1,000-yard freestyle, beating Seton Hall teammate Ivan Michalovic by over five seconds with a time of 9:55.57. He also took home first place in the men’s 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:44.05.
Other standouts from the meet included Grace Endersby, who won the 50-yard freestyle with a time of 25.70 seconds, Courtney McCardle, who won the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:09.77 and sophomore Amelia Wotton, who won the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:11.37.
Liam Cosgrove took home the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:55.97, Chris Tucker won the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 53.09 seconds, and Caleb Smith won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:44.50.
For Sapp, there was not one event in particular where the Pirates shined, but he came away impressed with his team’s resilience:
“Even if they were off a little bit they adjusted and rebounded well going into their next event,” Sapp said.
The Pirates return to action for a key senior day meet with Providence and Georgetown on February 2.
Matthew Collins can be reached at matthew.collins@student.shu.edu.
