NEW YORK – After helping Villanova to three combined wins over the past week, junior Jake McIntyre (Essex, Vt.) and senior Kelly Montesi (Greenwich, Conn.) were tabbed #BIGEASTswim Male and Female Athlete of the Week.

The pair of honors mark the third and fourth weekly honors from the league for the program this season. It is the first Athlete of the Week nod for McIntyre while Montesi earns the fifth of her career. This is the first Villanova sweep of the honors since Jan. 30, 2019 when Michael Perra and Darby Goodwin were the Athletes of the Week.

McIntyre won a pair of individual events as well as a third-place relay finish this past weekend in the 110-95 win at Providence. The junior touched the wall first in both the 400-meter free (4:08.28) and the 800-meter free (8:38.27), both of which are BIG EAST top times in each event. McIntyre helped the Wildcats to a third-place finish in the 200-meter free with a relay time of 1:56.80. 

Montesi had a big weekend across a pair of winning meets at Rutgers and Richmond, picking up four individual wins and two relay victories. The senior won both the 100 back (55.61) and 100 fly (55.57) in Saturday's 161-120 win over Richmond, while also swimming the first leg of Villanova's victory in the 200-medley relay (1:45.56). In Monday's 133-108 win at Rutgers, Montesi won the 200 back (1:59.13) and the 200 IM (2:04.00), with the former being the third-best time in the BIG EAST this season. She would also swim the anchor leg of the Wildcats' win in the 400 free relay (3:28.42).