Villanova Women Dominate Big East Championships; Georgetown Men Edge Xavier for Title
For the 10th consecutive season, the Villanova Wildcats are the Big East women’s swimming and diving champions after a dominating performance in East Meadow, N.Y., while Georgetown’s men used exceptional depth and a few key victories to defeat Xavier by just 11 points to capture the men’s title. Villanova’s Audrey Pastorek and Xavier’s Andrew Martin were the top swimmers of the meet, each earning three individual victories.
Women’s Team Standings
1. Villanova University 1534 2. University of Connecticut 1316.5 3. Georgetown University 1265.5 4. Xavier University 1012 5. Seton Hall University 1002 6. Butler University 590 7. Providence College 403
Men’s Team Standings
1. Georgetown University 792 2. Xavier University 781 3. Seton Hall University 721.5 4. Villanova University 464 5. Providence College 351.5
Women’s Results
The top swimmer for Villanova in a runaway victory was junior Audrey Pastorek, who claimed wins in the 200 IM (2:00.18), 100 backstroke (53.97) and 200 backstroke (1:56.30). Additionally, Villanova freshman Winnie Jalet finished first in both the 100 breaststroke (1:02.13) and 200 breaststroke (2:13.41) while another freshman, Katie White, won the 200 butterfly (1:59.19).
Nova’s team of Molly Benson, Lainey Quinones, Mary Kate Farrell and Lexi Elkovitch opened the meet with a win in the 800 freestyle relay (7:21.83), and later that same night, Pastorek, Jalet, Arabella Lee and Perri Stahl won the 200 medley relay in 1:40.48. The 200 free relay went to Villanova by just five hundredths over Seton Hall, with the team of Cara Stapleton, Quinones, Elkovitch and Stahl finishing in 1:33.10. Pastorek, Jalet, White and Elkovitch won the 400 medley relay in 3:42.13, and to conclude the meet, Stapleton, Benson, Stahl and Elkovich captured the 400 free relay in 3:23.77.
Connecticut, the runnerup in the team competition, got wins from Niamh Hofland in the 500 free (4:51.21) and Maggie Donlevy in the 50 free (23.21), and diving also went the way of the Huskies, with Ana Laura Faoro winning on 3-meter (566.75) and Julia Pioso claiming first place on 1-meter (537.40).
Georgetown’s two wins came courtesy of Erin Hood in the 400 IM (4:14.78) and Angelica Reali in the 100 fly (53.89). Seton Hall’s Natalie Heim captured a pair of first-place finishes, in the 200 free (1:48.00) and 100 free (50.15) while teammate Allie Waggoner placed first in the 1650 free (16:31.50).
Men’s Results
Seton Hall and Xavier each posted more wins, but Georgetown’s depth and a few key event wins carried the Hoyas to an 11-point win over the Musketeers. For Georgetown, Michael Baldini secured the win in the 200 IM in 1:47.57 on the first full day of the meet, and Stephen Kim won the 200 breaststroke in 1:58.23 in the second-to-last individual race. Georgetown’s lone relay win was in the 200 medley, where John McEachern, Bailey De Luise, Baldini and Connor Brennan swam a winning time of 1:27.60.
Meanwhile, Andrew Martin led Xavier with wins in the 500 free (4:18.88), 200 free (1:36.65) and 1650 free, where he set a new conference record of 15:04.12. Additionally, Xavier’s Jack Parker picked up the win in the 400 IM (4:18.88), and Ethan Saunders was the winner in the 100 breast (53.70). In the 800 free relay, Martin came from behind to touch out Xavier by just eight hundredths and claim the win. Kyle Hudson, Nathan Wall and Jon Bernard joined Martin on the winning effort, clocking 6:32.05. In the 200 free relay, Saunders, Gage Hannewyk, Hudson and Martin picked up the win in 1:20.61.
Seton Hall had three individual double winners, Michael Klimaszewski in the 100 fly (46.82) and 200 fly (1:45.23), Ross Pantano in the 100 back (48.14) and 200 back (1:46.00) and Quinn Murtha in 3-meter (613.80) and 1-meter (569.75) diving. Pantano, Ben Endersby, Klimaszewski and Kevin Cary won the 400 medley relay in 3:13.09, and Tommy Minar, Cary, Klimaszewski and Ben Laclair concluded the meet by taking the 400 free relay in 2:58.35.
The only swimmer not hailing from the top three teams to win an event was Providence’s Will Layden, who captured the 50 free (20.19) and 100 free (44.32).
