GEVEVA, Ohio – Villanova men's and women's swimming and diving started their time at the BIG EAST Championship off strong, logging gold medal showings in the women's 800 Free Relay and men's 3-Meter diving. At the end of day one, the women are in second with a score of 116, just four points behind Xavier. The men end the day in third with a score of 89.
800 Free relay was the first event of the day and had Villanova's first champions. With efforts from
Riley Kudlac,
Amylia Higgins,
Anna Farley and
Martina Lonati, they swam 7:15.66 to help them reach the gold and grab the ninth fastest time in program history. On the men's side, the quartet of
Gavin Peck,
Gavin Jones,
Sam Randall and
Justin Nowicki clocked in at 6:36.57 and putting them in fourth on the platform and fourth in program history.
On the diving board,
Nicholas Jubilee scored 330.95 in the morning prelims to send him into finals for the 3-meter as the second seed. He then was able to increase his score to 370.85 in the finals, scoring him first place and a new program record. He is the first Villanova champion in the 3-meter dive since 2021.
Another program record was nearly knocked down in the 200 Medley Relay.
Cole Gorsuch,
Mikey Thurk,
Zach Sutter and
Patrick Hemingway swam a time of 1:28.68 to land in fourth-place, putting them .05 out of tying the program record. On the women's side,
Alana Leen,
Winnie Jalet,
Arabella Lee and
Lexi Elkovitch touched the wall with a fourth-place time of 1:40.53. That time was good enough for seventh in program history.
Day two will start with swimming prelims at 10 a.m. followed by diving prelims at 1 p.m. before finals at 5:45 p.m.. The day's events will include the 500 Free, 200 IM, 50 Free and the women's 3-meter with the 200 Free Relay during the eveing finals.
