Seton Hall Athletics
The men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will travel to Fairfax, Va., this weekend to compete in the Patriot Invitational.
Both swimming and diving teams last competed at Rutgers. The men’s team swept Big East rivals Georgetown and Villanova at the Rutgers Tri-Meet. The blue and white also grabbed the top spot in the 200-medley relay, 200-back and 100-breast events. Head coach Ron Farina explained how the men earned that win.
“I really think it was a team effort one men’s side,” Farina said. “I was really proud of how the men stepped up and raced in the midst of some really tough training that we’ve been doing over the course of the last couple of weeks.”
The women did not share the same kind of success. They fell short against Georgetown, Rutgers and Villanova at the Rutgers Quad Meet. Despite the loss, Farina felt his team performed well.
“I think the women actually swam better at this meet than they did when they swept the quad meet at Loyola,” Farina said of the women’s efforts. “Swimming against Rutgers, now a Big Ten team, Villanova, defending Big East Champions, and Georgetown, second place, I think the women raced very hard and really well.”
The Pirates will look ahead to their next meet, the Patriot Invitational. Coach Farina pointed out some swimmers that will play a key role in the meet on both squads.
On the women’s team Farina will look to sophomore Melody Bush to make an impact in the event, just as she did in the 200-yard medley relay at the Loyola Quad Meet and as she’s done so far this season Along with Bush, Farina focused his attention on a couple of freshmen women that he said will perform well.
“I would definitely look for on the women’s side Melody Bush to really step up like has in the past,” he said. “Also, a couple of freshmen, Kylene Ronayne and Sydney Simpson.”
The men’s team will feature a trio of freshmen consisting of Sean Sali, Noah Yanchulis and Matt Zebrowski. These Pirate-newcomers have been consistent all season, including the last meet with all three at the top of their respective events. The Pirates feature some new teammates, but will look upon their veteran swimmers to step up. Junior Tim Bosse and sophomore Seth Underwood will a couple of upperclassman that Farina feels comfortable with as Bosse was successful at the last meet along with Sali in the 200-medley relay.
The blue and white face a tough challenge in Fairfax. This event will be used as a measuring stick for future events against Big East opponents.
“A three day meet is a grueling event whether you’re warming up, racing, cooling down in the morning event then doing that again at night swimming relays and doing that consecutively three nights in a row,” Farina said.
Last year’s Patriot Invitational had the men’s and women’s, finished fifth and fourth, respectively. Bush was a standout at this event in her freshman season and hopes to be again in her sophomore campaign. The blue and white will look to improve on those finishes at this year’s event.
“We’re always looking to improve,” Farina said. “I think both teams have a chance to improve upon last year’s performance, but we are a little bit bigger so it gives us more opportunities to score points.”
The Pirates take every competition seriously and look for the win every time. However, Coach Farina believes that there are more important things than winning.
“We’re just looking for the kids to go in and have some fun racing and not really worrying about places,” Farina said.
The first day of the Patriot Invitational begins on Thursday, Nov. 20 and continues into Saturday, Nov. 22.
Javon Glenn can be reached at javon.glenn@student.shu.edu or on twitter @javong25.
