VILLANOVA, Pa. – Villanova men's swimming and diving used a complete team effort to take a 178-118 win over NJIT on Friday evening at the Villanova Swim Complex.
This win gives Villanova (2-1) its second victory in three days. The 'Cats earned first-place in 10 of the day's 16 events with 29 top-three finishes across the board.
Chris Jones posted a diving sweep, winning the 1 meter with a new personal-best score of 275. 58 and posting a 321.15 in the 3 meter. On the swimming side,
Zach Sutter also picked up a pair of wins in the 50 Free (21.21) and 100 Free (46.47). He was also a part of a winning 200 Medley Relay Squad.
The diving duo of Jones and
Nicholas Jubilee started the day in sweeping fashion, notching 1-2 showings at both heights. Jubilee was right behind Jones on the leaderboard, scoring second in the 1 meter (264.98) and 3 meter (295.05).
Momentum stayed on Villanova's side as swimming got underway, opening with another 1-2 finish in the 200 Medley Relay. The A team of
Cole Gorsuch,
Mikey Thurk, Sutter and
Patrick Hemingway won with a time of 1:33.24 while the B squad of
Max Christensen,
Wade Weston,
Henry Gingrich and
Kaden Elkovitch posted a second-place 1:34.21.
Owen Nye extended his 1000 Free winning streak to three-consecutive meets. The freshman overcame NJIT's Adam Mekrami by just .61 of a second for a 9:41.09 victory.
Patrick Casey joined him in the top-three of that one, touching third in 9:50.51. Nye was in a tight race at the top three of the 500 Free later on, finishing third in 4:44.07, just .53 of a second out of first.
Gavin Jones fell into a close race in the 200 Free, winning by a mere .02 of a second over NJIT's Ilias El Fallaki at 1:41.94.
Gavin Peck finished behind that top duo with a third-place 1:43.66.
Cole Gorsuch was the fastest Wildcat in the 100 Backstroke, clocking in with a 52.56 that was good enough for third.
Thurk and Weston went 1-2 in the 100 Breast, touching in 58.49 and 59.16, respectively.
Melson Arquillano won the 100 Fly by over a second, posting a 50.58 time. He and
Justin Nowicki were second and third in the 200 Fly, finishing in 1:53.24 and 1:56.24.
The top three of the 50 Free and 100 Free were all Blue and White, both led by a victorious Sutter. Hemingway and Elkovitch finished behind him in the 50 Free with just .07 separating the pair, taking second (21.50) and third (21.57) respectively. Just .35 of a second separated the trio of 'Cats at the top of the 100 Free. Thurk finished behind Sutter with a second-place time of 46.75 while Hemingway was narrowly behind in third at 46.82.
Aubrey Bowles and
Carson Brockette finished second and third in the 200 Back, respectively, with times of 1:54.05 and 1:55.59. Christensen and Weston finished in the same order in the 200 Breast, going second (2:08.31) and (2:09.10).
There was just under .40 of a second separating first and third in the 200 IM with Christensen getting the win in 1:56.43. Nowicki touched third in 1:56.81.
Villanova faces a week-long layoff after the busy week as the team heads into Philadelphia next Friday, Nov. 8 to take on La Salle inside the Kirk Pool.
