VILLANOVA, Pa. – The Villanova men's and women's swimming and diving team welcomed La Salle for a midweek matchup on Wednesday, Jan. 16. The women continued their season-long hot streak and defeated the Explorers 192-97, marking their fifth victory of the year. Unfortunately, the Wildcat men were bested by La Salle, 178-122.
Women
On the women's side, a 1,2,3 sweep seemed to be the reoccurring pattern for the Wildcats. They took the top three seeds in seven events including the 200-yard medley relay, 1000-yard freestyle, 100-yard backstroke, 100-yard butterfly, and the 50, 100 and 500-yard freestyles.
In the 200-medley relay,
Darby Goodwin,
Rayann Jaryszak,
Kelly Montesi and
Taylor Wilson came in first with a final time of 1:46.35.
Grace Wielar,
Elise Pidutti,
Micaela Grassi and
Abbey Berloco followed in second with a 1:49.27 finish. Taking third place was
Milly Routledge,
Samantha Cheruk,
Tarryn Els, and
Alexa Fabbri.
Nicole Welch was the first Wildcat to secure a top spot in the 1000-yard freestyle, recording a time of 10:18.64.
Emily Provenzo (10:26.40) and
Andrea Fong (10:35.93) followed behind in second and third.
Kathleen Miszkiewicz, Routledge, Pidutti and
Emily Ryan stole the top four spots in the 100-backstroke. Miszkiewicz touched the wall in 58.31, Routledge followed in at 58.60, and Pidutti and Ryan rounded out the squad with a 59.80 and 59.92 finish.
In the 100-fly, Goodwin (57.16) captured first with her second best 100-fly of the season, Els (58.62) came in second and
Anastasia Kontrimas (1:00.40) clinched third.
The Wildcats dominated in the 50, 100 and 500-freestyles as well. Routledge garnered first in the 50-free clocking in at 24.17, Wilson (24.22) grabbed second, Berloco (24.71) swam in at third and Cheruk (25.13) closed behind in fourth.
Goodwin, Wilson and Pidutti recorded the top three times in the 100-free. Goodwin recorded a time of 52.18, Wilson recorded a 53.16 and Pidutti swam in .30 seconds later at 53.46. In the 500-yard freestyle, Montesi, Miszkiewicz and Berloco would secure another sweep for the 'Cats. Montesi swam an impressive 5:04.23 in her first 500-freestyle of the season. Miszkiewicz came in at 5:11.11 earning her second-best time of the season and Berloco followed with a time of 5:14.93.
Villanova did not just limit their first-place finishes to the 1,2,3 sweeps. The Wildcats also earned top spots in events aside from the ones where they earned the top three places.
Jaryszak swam to top spots in the 100 and 200-breaststroke with a time of 1:05.94 and 2:24.45. Montesi controlled the 200-yard butterfly after touching the wall in 2:07.01.
Bridie Dunn dominated the boards with first place finishes in the 1 and 3-meter dive, on the low board she scored a 257.32 and a 266.78 on the high. Wielar earned the top spot in the 200-yard backstroke 3.7 seconds faster than the second-place finisher from La Salle with her time of 2:04.41.
Men
In La Salle's defeat over the men, the Wildcats were still able to earn four first place and five second place finishes.
Andrew Kelley,
JJ Strain,
Jordan Fetterman and
Stephen Krecsmar earned a second-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:33.69.
John Davidson was the second individual to place second for the men. Davidson recorded a time of 9:59.12 in the 1000-yard free.
Kelley and Cucchi swam to first and third place finishes in the 100-yard backstroke, Kelley clocked in at 50.34 and Cucchi at 52.39. The pair also placed second and third in the 200-yard backstroke. Cucchi (1:52.54) finished second and Kelley (1:54.07) finished in third.
Jesse Marsh grabbed second in the 200-yard fly with his time of 1:55.49, Fetterman and
Luke Sabal followed behind in third and fourth.
Krecsmar was another individual to capture a top spot. In the 50-free he touched the wall at 20.93. On the boards,
Michael Perra and
Michael Ackert stole first and second in the 1-meter with scores of 310.42 and 269.85;
Joe Swindal placed fourth. Perra also scored a 300.45 on the high board, securing a first-place spot.
The men closed out the evening with a second-place finish in the 400-yard freestyle relay. Krecsmar, Marsh, Cucchi and Sabal recorded a final time of 3:14.25.
After Wednesday's meet, the men will have time off and compete again on Saturday, Jan. 26 when they travel to UConn for a 12 p.m. meet. The women will compete again Saturday, Jan. 19 at 10 a.m. when they welcome Richmond at home.
