GENEVA, Ohio—The reaction by freshman Richard Nolan (Wilton, Conn.) to winning his first career BIG EAST title was one to remember and Villanova packed the championship final of the 200 yard individual medley with four qualifiers in a great second day of competition at the BIG EAST Championships at the SPIRE Institute on Thursday night. With two days to go at the conference meet the Wildcats are in second place in the team standings with 262 points. Villanova is just 11 points behind team leader Xavier (273) and leads third place Seton Hall (174) and the other five teams in the field.
 
There were four Wildcats in the championship final of the 200 IM and Nolan won his first collegiate gold medal with a winning time of 1:49.51. He touched the wall three-tenths of a second before the runner-up from Xavier, while freshman teammate Nolan Danus (Morris Plains, N.J.) was the bronze medalist in third place with a time of 1:50.22. Senior Francis Prikasky (Pass Christian, Miss.) came in fourth in 1:51.13 after he posted the fastest time in the preliminaries (1:49.83) earlier in the day. Senior Jordan Fetterman (Berkeley, Calif.) finished sixth (1:51.56).
 
"I'm just so excited to be here in this awesome facility and coming out with my team," a jubilant Nolan said after the race in a live interview that was part of the streaming coverage of the BIG EAST Championships. "We were on the bus for 6 ½ hours and we were cheering the whole way, egging each other on. We came here ready to go and it's just an awesome environment right now for my teammates, everyone around us, the competition. This title isn't just for me, it's for my teammates. We are just trying to do our best here and have some fun."
 
The first championship final on Thursday evening was the 500 yard freestyle in which Villanova had three qualifiers. Sophomore Reid Hutcherson (Richmond, Va.) led the team with a fifth place finish and a time of 4:31.30, while sophomore Jake McIntyre (Essex, Vt.) was just behind him in sixth place with a time of 4:31.94. Freshman Charlie Hinckley (New York, N.Y.) finished eighth in 4:37.01. The championship finals of the 500 free and the 200 IM alone brought the Wildcats a total of 102 team points on Thursday night.
 
The final individual event was the 50 yard freestyle in which fifth-year senior Christopher Paynter (Hershey, Pa.) qualified for the championship final and finished in fourth place with a time of 20.65. He had also been in fourth place after touching the wall in the preliminary heats in 20.58 and he matched  that position with another strong performance in the final.
 
Wrapping up the night was the 200 yard freestyle relay in which a lineup of Paynter, Fetterman, junior Jesse Marsh (Kingston, Jamaica) and sophomore Ryan Maher (Phoenixville, Pa.) came in third with a time of 1:22.73. It is the third straight relay that the Wildcats have recorded an All-BIG EAST (top three) finish in. Villanova came in second in the 800 yard freestyle relay and third in the 200 yard medley relay on Wednesday night.
 
Action will continue to heat up on Friday with five individual swimming finals, the 400 yard medley relay and the men's one-meter diving competition. Villanova has already had a diving champion at the meet, as junior Michael Ackert (Rye, N.Y.) was the champion of the three-meter competition on Wednesday. The other individual events on Friday's docket are the 400 yard individual medley, the 100 yard butterfly, the 200 yard freestyle, the 100 yard breaststroke and the 100 yard backstroke.