Feb. 22, 2016 BIG EAST Links
Big East Championship Central
Live Results
Fox Sports Go
Venue
Psych Sheets
Schedule of Events
Villanova Links
Team Meet Results
Women's Top Times
Women's Individual Times
Men's Top Times
Men's Individual Times
Media Guide
Program Records
Villanova, Pa. - The Villanova women's (9-2, 2-0 BIG EAST) and men's (2-6, 1-2 BIG EAST) swimming teams are set to compete at the BIG EAST Swimming and Diving Championships in East Meadow, N.Y. at the Nassau County Aquatic Center from Wed., Feb. 23 to Sat., Feb. 27.
Finals events start on each day at 6:00 p.m. ET. The prelims for each event start at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. A full schedule of events can be found HERE.
Live coverage of the four-day conference championships will be provided by the BIG EAST Digital Network on FOX Sports Go.
Wednesday will feature finals events for the 200 medley relay, 800 freestyle relay, and 1 meter diving (Women).Thursday's finals events consist of the 50 freestyle, 500 freestyle, 200 individual medley, 200 freestyle relay, and 3 meter diving (Men)
Finals events for the 100 butterfly, 100 breaststroke, 100 backstroke, 200 freestyle, 400 individual medley, 400 medley relay, and 3 meter diving (Women) will take place on Friday.
On the final day of competition, Saturday, the 200 butterfly, 200 breaststoke, 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 1650 freestyle and 400 freestyle relay, and 1 meter diving (Men) finals will take place.
Villanova Women
The Villanova women went 9-2 overall in the regular season with non-conference victories over LaSalle (10/21), Connecticut (10/24), Rutgers (11/7), Iowa State (1/29), West Virginia (1/29), Richmond (1/30), and LIU-Brooklyn (2/7).
Villanova had conference wins over Georgetown and Seton Hall at the Big Ten / Big East Rutgers Quad Meet back on Nov. 11. The women also finished 3rd out of 8 teams at the Princeton Big Al Open in early December.
The Wildcat women earned four BIG EAST Women's Swimming and Diving Athlete of the Week awards this season. Freshman Darby Goodwin took home the award three times this season (10/27, 11/10, 1/12) and senior Kaisla Kollanus garnered honors on Feb. 2. Goodwin set new program records in the 100 and 200 back this season.
The women are looking to win their third consecutive conference title this season after winning the BIG EAST the last two years. 12 Wildcat women were named to the All-BIG EAST Team last year, while Kaisla Kollanus was named the Women's Outstanding Swimmer.
Head coach Rick Simpson said while winning the BIG EAST is the ultimate goal his team is just focused at the task at hand.
"We don't ever want to walk into our conference championships on our women's side thinking about what we achieved the year before," Simpson noted. "We need to take the approach of showing up to that first relay Wednesday night and swim as fast as we can then go event by event from there. We don't ever try to look back."
Simpson did say he's confident on the women's side.
"On the women's side, we had one of our best dual meet records in program history. Much of that was built around the depth that we have. We are a very well-rounded and we're taking that balance and depth into the championship season. We have a large number of quality athletes who are capable of winning individual BIG EAST titles if things play themselves out right."
Villanova Men
The men went 2-6 on the year with a non-conference win over the United States Merchant Marine Academy (1/7) and a conference victory at home against Providence (1/16). Although the men may not be as deep as the women, the Wildcat men have had some strong individual performances this season.
"On the men's side, if you look at the individual performances we have some guys who have positioned themselves throughout the year to do some pretty amazing things," Simpson exclaimed. "Again, they still need to do it the pool, but the nice part is they know what they can accomplish in New York."
Ticket Information
All-Session adult ticket prices are $35; All-Sessions for children 17 and under and seniors 65 and over are $20. Click here for all-session tickets.
Single-session tickets can be purchased at $10 for adults and $5 for seniors (65+) and children (17 and under). Purchase your single-session tickets online here.
There will be a limited amount of all-session and single-session tickets available purchase at the Nassau County Aquatic Center starting Wednesday, Feb. 24 during the first session. Tickets can be purchased on-site with cash only.
Venue
The Nassau County Aquatic Center is recognized as one of the finest swimming facilities. The 80,000-square-foot center includes a "stretch" 50-meter pool that is 68 meters long, with three movable bulkheads. The pool setup varies, with 50-meter, 25-yard, and/or 25-meter lap lanes, depending on the pool setup. A diving well is present with a 10-meter competition diving tower as well as 1- and 3-meter springboards. The seating area can accommodate up to 1,700 spectators.
Live Results will be available for the entirety of the events on BE Smartt Inc. com as well as the FOX Sports Go live stream.
Be sure to follow the Villanova Swimming socially on Twitter @NovaSwimming Instagram @vu_swimming and Facebook to stay up to date with the latest news and highlights.