MORGANTOWN, W.V. – Villanova women's swimming and diving collected nine winning swims in Saturday's tri-meet split, defeating West Virginia, 177-120, and falling to Iowa State, 150-145, at the Aquatic Center at Mylan Park.
Seven Villanova (6-3) swimmers were a part of winning performances throughout the meet with West Virginia (2-3) and Iowa State (8-1), as the 'Cats logged seven individual victories and two relay wins.
Kelly Montesi (Greenwich, Conn.) led the team with another sweep of her four events, winning the 100 Back (55.44), 100 Fly (55.37) and 200 IM (2:02.86) and swimming the opening leg of the 200 Medley Relay where she teamed up with
Perri Stahl (La Grange, Ill.), Elizabeth Bailey (Brookhaven, Ga.) and
Abbey Berloco (Cranbury, M.J.) for a winning time of 1:43.90. That team beat Iowa State's group by just over a second.
Milly Routledge (North Ascot, U.K.) was in the top two of her four event appearances. She won the 200 Free (1:50.91), 100 Free (51.34) and swam the anchor leg of the 400 Free Relay for a 3:26.91 finish with Berloco,
Lexi Elkovitch (New Albany, Ohio) and Stahl. Her other finish was a second-place showing in a close 50 free (23.87) where Stahl edged her by two-hundredths of a second with a winning time of 23.85.
Nicole Welch (Beverly, Mass.) was victorious in the 1650 Free (17.30.75), leading the rest of the field by nearly six seconds.
Brenna McLaughlin (Milford, Conn.) finished fifth in the that race with a 17:54.63 time.
Berloco picked up a podium-worthy swim in the 200 Free, finishing three second behind Routledge in third (1:53.62). She also went 1-2 with Routledge in the 100 Free, taking second with a 51.81 time that was just 47-hundreths of a second out of first.
Kaitlin Gravell (Ashton, Md.) and
Emily Zimmermann (Brielle, N.J.) went 4-5 in the 100 Breast with respective times of 1:07.38 and 1:08.43.
Bailey tacked on a second-place showing in the 200 Fly (2:04.86) while
Hannah Wasmuth (Peachtree Corners, Ga.) finished fourth in the 200 Back (2:05.46). Gravell and Stahl added top-five finishes in the 200 Breast, touching the wall in the third (2:22.59) and fifth (2:24.80), respectively.
In the 500 Free, Welch finished second in 5:01.59 with
Molly Benson (Kensington, Md.) taking fifth in 5:10.55. Bailey finished third in the 100 Fly (57.16) with Gravell taking second in the 200 IM (2:06.48). Benson,
Lainey Quinones (Clarendon Hills, Ill.),
Cara Stapleton (Dublin, Ireland) and Welch landed fifth in the 400 Free Relay in 3:32.25 time.
Andrea Holtz (Rosemount, Minn.) added on fifth-place dives in the 1-meter (235.20) and 3-meter (196.30).
The Wildcats stay in the Keystone State this week as they head to Penn State on Friday, Jan. 28. The meeting with the Nittany Lions starts at 5 p.m. in McCoy Natatorium.
