2015 BIG EAST Championships Results: Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Complete|Villanova Only (Easy to Read)
2015 All-BIG EAST Team and Villanova Top-3 Results
2014-15 Villanova Women: Top Times|All Times

VILLANOVA, Pa. - The Villanova women's swimming team captured its second-consecutive BIG EAST Championship on Sat., Feb. 21 with a total of 957.5 points. At the event, the Wildcat women won 14 of 18 events, broke five program records, tied another and had the BIG EAST Most Outstanding Swimmer and Coach of the Year while also having 12 Wildcats named to the 2015 All-BIG EAST Team.

Program Records Fall
The women broke an astounding five program records at the 2015 BIG EAST Championships in Ithaca, N.Y. over the four-day event.

Junior Kaisla Kollanus, who was named the Women's Most Outstanding Swimmer at the conference championships, set a new Villanova benchmark in the 100 freestyle with a time of 49.67. The junior broke her own record which she set back in 2013 (49.82). The Hyvinkaa, Finland native also tied the 50 freestyle mark set by Meaghan McCaffrey back in 1993 with a time of 22.97.

Freshman Gabby Daigneault established a new program in the 100 backstroke with a split of 55.27 in the leadoff of the 400 medley relay. The record was previously held by Yolana Du Plessis (55.36 in 2012).

Junior Fiona Hardie, last year's Co-Most Outstanding Swimmer, broke the 100 butterfly mark, turning in a time of 54.14 at the conference championships. The mark was previously set by Kollanus with a time of 54.39 back in 2013.

Two Villanova relay standards also fell at the championships. In the 200 medley relay, Daigneault, sophomore Jessica Randolph, Hardie and Kollanus set a new program record with a time of 1:42.06. The record was just a year old after it was set at the 2014 BIG EAST Championships behind a time of 1:42.76 turned in by Colleen Lord, Kristin Haufler, Hardie and Sara Jurek.

The 400 freestyle relay of Randolph, senior Katrin Heider, Jurek and Kollanus swam the event in a collective time of 3:22.35 to set a new Wildcat record. The new time trimmed off 11-hundreths of a second from the previous interval set by Jurek, Natalie Elphick, Heider and Kollanus in 2013 (3:22.46).

Major BIG EAST Awards
Head Coach Rick Simpson earned his second BIG EAST Women's Coach of the Year award after leading the Wildcats to back-to-back conference championships.

Junior Kaisla Kollanus was named the BIG EAST Women's Most Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet where she won three individual events and four relays for a total of seven first-place victories to help Villanova win the 2015 title. She also had the most top-three finishes at the meet with seven of all the BIG EAST schools. No other women had more than six and only one from the men's side of the competition, Armando Moss of Xavier, also had seven top-three marks.

All-BIG EAST Team
Twelve Wildcat women were named to the 2015 All-BIG EAST Team at the conclusion of the four-day conference championships. The Villanova women led the BIG EAST with 12 selections which included five freshmen (Olivia Cacciatore, Gabby Daigneault, Caitlin Daday, Heather Farley, Mackenzie Niness), three sophomores (Emily Mayo, Erin Merkle, Jessica Randolph), two juniors (Fiona Hardie, Kaisla Kollanus) and two seniors (Katrin Heider, Sara Jurek). In total, 41 women from six different schools were named to the All-BIG EAST Team including Georgetown and Xavier each garnering 11.

Final Standings
Villanova won the event with 957.5 points followed by runner-up Georgetown with 736.5. Xavier finished in third place with 555 points, Seton Hall in fourth (472), Providence in fifth (207) and Butler in sixth (187).