GENEVA, Ohio—Villanova won 11 gold medals over four inspiring days of competition and won its program-record eighth consecutive BIG EAST team title as the conference championships concluded at the SPIRE Institute on Saturday night. The big weekend for the Wildcats saw the team score 906.5 points to finish ahead of runner-up Connecticut (838) and the rest of the six-team field at the BIG EAST Championships. The gold medal haul for Villanova included champions in seven individual events and first place finishes in four of the five relays.
 
Junior swimmer Kelly Montesi (Greenwich, Conn.) was named the Women's Most Outstanding Swimmer for the second time in her career after capturing three individual titles and swimming a leg of three champion relay teams. She won the 400 yard individual medley for the third straight year and the 200 yard individual medley for the second year in a row. Montesi also won her second career title in the 200 yard butterfly, which she previously swam as a freshman when she won the Most Outstanding Swimmer honor for the first time. In this weekend's relays, Montesi led off the 400 yard freestyle relay and anchored the 800 yard freestyle relay in addition to swimming the butterfly leg of the 200 yard medley relay which tied for first place.
 
Head coach Rick Simpson and his staff were named the Women's Coaching Staff of the Year for the eighth straight season. Simpson accepted the honor along with assistant coaches Laura McGlaughlin, Nate Brown and Conor Hassard as well as diving coach Todd Michael.
 
Montesi and senior Milly Routledge (North Ascot, United Kingdom) have each won 17 career gold medals at the BIG EAST Championships. After her performance this weekend, Montesi has won eight career individual titles and has been a part of nine relay champions. Routledge is a five-time individual champion and a 12-time relay champion. She won two of her five gold medals over the last two nights, as she successfully defended her titles in both the 100 yard freestyle and the 200 yard freestyle. The other individual champions for the Wildcats were freshman Audrey Pastorek (Savannah, Ga.) in the 200 yard backstroke and sophomore Danielle Scarano (New Windsor, N.Y.) in the one-meter diving competition.
 
Villanova started off the meet on Wednesday night when it tied Xavier for first place in the 200 medley relay. Routledge, senior Rayann Jaryszak (Arlington, Texas), Montesi and sophomore Perri Stahl (La Grange, Ill.) were the lineup for the Wildcats in that race. Later the same night, Villanova won the 800 free relay with Routledge, junior Abbey Berloco (Cranbury, N.J.), junior Nicole Welch (Beverly, Mass.) and Montesi in the lineup.
 
Saturday night's lineup in the 400 free relay featured Montesi, Berloco, freshman Lexi Elkovitch (New Albany, Ohio) and Routledge. The team also won the 200 free relay on Thursday night with a quartet of Routledge, Stahl, Elkovitch and Berloco.