VILLANOVA, Pa. – Villanova took up at least one top-three spot in 15 events, logging wins in seven of those for its first win of the season, defeating NJIT 153-147 on Friday at the Villanova Swim Complex.
This is the second consecutive meeting where Villanova (1-1) took down NJIT (1-1) by a 153-147 final.

Nicholas Jubilee set the tone early, sweeping both dives to open the day. He scored a 285.53 in the 3 meter before going 271.88 in the 1 meter. Villanova tallied a 1-2-3 finish in the 1000 Free, led by a 9:53.87 swim from freshman Patrick Casey. He was followed by Jake McIntyre and Aubrey Bowles in second (9:56.44) and third (9:59.86), respectively. The Wildcats led the way in the 100 Back with Ethan Brown tagging up a winning time of 51.74, trailed closely by Charlie Hinckley in second at 51.81.

Another Wildcat victory came in a close 200 Back battle with Bowles winning in 1:53.28, just five-tenths of a second ahead of the rest of the field. Hinckley logged a win in the 500 Free, touching in 4:41.59 with McIntyre not far behind in third (4:42.38).

The meet came down to a thrilling 200 Free Relay that ended with Villanova closing up shop with a two-tenths of a second victory as Patrick Hemingway, Alex Hamill, Mikey Thurk and Henry Gingrich finished in 1:25.50, edging NJIT's A-team. Villanova's B squad of Sam Randall, Reid Hutcherson, Ryan Maher and Gavin Jones finished nearly a second after their fellow Wildcats, earning third at 1:26.54.

Chris Jones also logged top three showings on the boards alongside Jubilee, placing third (234.37) and second (245.09) in the 3 meter and 1 meter, respectively.

The 200 Medley Relay saw Villanova have two of the top three fastest times with the A grouping of Hinckley, Henry Halloran, Maher and Hemingway log a second-place time of 1:35.13. Brown, Thurk, Gingrich and Hutcherson followed closely in third at 1:35.47.

Hutcherson touched second in the 200 Free, posting a 1:44.44 finish with Jones and McIntyre adding points in fourth (1:45.36) and fifth (1:45.42). Hamill finished the 100 Back in 52.77, good enough for fourth. In the 100 Breast, Thurk had a top-three finish, touching the wall third in 59.48 with Halloran right behind him with a fourth-place time of 59.74.

In both Butterfly events, Maher and Randall logged top-three finishes. Maher posted runner-up times in the 200 Fly (1:56.26) and 100 Fly (52.07) while Randall was third in both at 1:58.07 and 52.09. More points came Villanova's way in the 50 Free with Hemingway finishing just 15-hundredths of a second out of first, posting a 21.45 time that was good enough for second. Gingrich and Hamill rounded out the top five at 21.97 and 22.30, respectively. Less than a second separated the top six times in the 100 Free. Thurk was the fastest Wildcat, earning third in 47.72. Jones and Hemingway battled for fourth place with Jones, a freshman, edging the sophomore by two-hundredths second with a 48.03 time.

Both Brown and Hamill earned points in the 200 Back, touching third (1:55.13) and fourth (1:56.42) respectively. Halloran tacked on a fourth-place finish in the 200 Breast (2:10.22) with Casey also taking fourth in the 500 Free (4:49.65). Nolan Danus ended up just over a second out of first in the 200 IM, tagging second in 1:56.90 while Bowles and Halloran finished fourth (1:58.83) and fifth (1:59.10).  

The team is back in action on November 9 for a trip to Philadelphia to take on Penn. That met is set for 5 p.m. at Sheerr Pool.