EAST MEADOW, N.Y. – Villanova had a major showing in the final day of BIG EAST Championships action that included seven top-three finishes to win its tenth consecutive conference championship title on Saturday at the Nassau County Aquatic Center. This is the 15th conference crown for the program since 1992, marking a conference-high on the women's side of the tournament.
The Wildcats closed the week with 1.534 points and 21 top-three finishes, 11 of those being gold. This stretch of 10-straight titles marks the second longest in BIG EAST women's swimming and diving history behind Notre Dame's 13 straight. The next closest team to Villanova in the team rankings at the end of Saturday was Connecticut in second with 1316.5 while Georgetown was third in 1265.5.
Rick Simpson,
Todd Michael,
Laura McGlaughlin,
Ben Delia, and
Evan Anthony were named Co-Coaching Staff of the Year alongside Butler's coaching staff., marking the 10th consecutive year of receiving the honor, as well. The streak of Most Outstanding Swimmer being clad in Blue and White also extended to 10-straight championships with
Audrey Pastorek receiving the honor for the first time in her career. The junior collected five gold medals throughout the week, winning the 200 IM, 100 Back and the 200 Back while also being on winning relays for the 200 and 400 Medley.
Pastorek's 1:56.30 in the 200 Back on Saturday solidified her backstroke sweep and gave her the eighth-fastest time in Villanova history. Freshmen
Winnie Jalet and
Katie White logged wins on the final day as well. Much like Pastorek, Jalet also cemented a sweep on Saturday, winning the 200 Breast with an NCAA B cut time of 2:13.41, making her the fourth-fastest performer in team history. White posted the ninth-fastest time in Villanova history for the 200 Back, touching in 1:59.19.
Another streak that extended was Villanova's winning relay ledger. Since 2021, Villanova has won 11 consecutive relay races, sweeping all five relay races in 2022 and 2023. The final relay of the week saw
Cara Stapleton,
Molly Benson,
Perri Stahl and
Lexi Elkovitch combine for a 3:23.77 time in the 400 Free Relay.
Claire Feick had a big showing in the 1-Meter diving finals on Saturday. She earned a spot in the evening finals with a 230.25 score, good enough for fourth. She moved up two spots on the leaderboard in the championship, winning silver with a 482.55 final score.
Kaitlin Gravell started things off for the finals with a dominant bronze-worthy performance in the 1650 Free. Not only did she beat her personal best by five seconds, she also notched the fifth-fastest performance in Villanova history with a time of 16:36.30.
Brenna McLaughlin also made it onto the podium with her, finishing in 16:54.75.
Cara Stapleton had the sixth top-three individual freestyle medal of the week for the 'Cats in the 100 Free, touching in 50.57 to earn bronze.
Hannah Wasmuth reset her time as the fourth-fastest performer in the 200 Back, posting a fourth-place time of 1:59.16.
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