VILLANOVA, Pa. – Men's Swimming and Diving hosted Providence on Saturday to conclude a busy week for the team. The Wildcats were on fire, winning 15 of 16 events. Villanova bested the Friars 203.5-88.5.
"I think we did a fantastic job," Head Coach
Rick Simpson said. "It was a challenging situation coming off a road meet the night before, getting home very, very late, and then having to bounce back for a late morning meet. Just not a whole lot of time to turn over recovered. I think they stepped up and did a fantastic job and handled it really well."
Villanova opened the meet going 1-2 in both diving events with
Nate Warson coming away with both events. He set a new program record on the three-meter board, scoring 373.58 to pass Nicholas Jubilee by 2.73 points. He scored 317.55 on the one-meter board to win that event.
Charlie Conniff scored personal bests to place as the runner-up on both heights, scoring 240.98 at the one-meter height and 242.48 at the three-meter.
The 'Cats continued their hot start in pool, owning the top two spots in the first three events. Both 400 Medley relays Villanova earned the acheivement.
Max Christensen,
Hugh Boris,
Carter Kobielski, and
Zach Sutter took the win in 3:25.31; and
Josh Seidman,
Carter Gray,
Melson Arquillano, and
Gavin Peck swam 3:30.84 to place second.
Zach Parent and
Brady Tierney were the pairing in the 1000 Free, with Parent's 9:58.25 just beating Tierney's 9:58.67 for first.
Brian Farrell and
Michael Yuen had a close battle as well, finishing within a hundredth of a second of each other in the 200 Free. Farrell touched at 1:42.79 to win, with Yuen finishing at 1:42.80.
In the sprint free events, Sutter earned back-to-back wins. He first won the 50 Free in 21.04, and then then led a sweep in the 100 Free where his time of 46.70 (47.98) paced Yuen (47.98) and Farrell (48.00).
The Wildcats took both backstroke events, controlling two podium spots in each event. Seidman (52.25) won the 100 Back with
Quinn O'Mara taking third (53.50). O'Mara then won the 200 Back in 1:54.80, with
Harrison Short finishing as the runner-up (1:55.79).
Boris and
Daxs Schoenbeck traded top finishes in the breaststroke events. Boris won the 100 in 57.98, and Schoenbeck was the runner-up with 58.30. Schoenbeck clocked 2:06.92 to earn his first career win in the 200, leading a sweep in the event. Boris was second in 2:07.61, and Christensen placed third at 2:11.01. Schoenbeck also won the 200 IM in 1:58.05, and
Aiden Bunker was the runner-up in 1:58.28 to control the top-two spots.
Villanova won the two butterfly events as well, doing so definitively.
Justin Nowicki dominated the 200; his time of 1:50.40 gapped the field by 9.14 seconds. Kobielski and
Michael Anderson handily led the field over 100 yards. Kobielski won the event in 50.12, and Anderson's runner-up time of 51.80 was 1.58 seconds ahead of any Providence swimmer.
The Wildcats finished off the meet with a victory in the 200 Free Relay. Sutter, Kobielski, Peck, and
Kaden Elkovitch swam 1:25.62.
The men are back in the pool next week against Rider. Villanova will face the Broncs on the road on Nov. 11.
