With One Day of Competition Remaining Villanova Fights to Secure its First #BIGEASTswim Men’s Championship Since 1993
Day 3 Results
GENEVA, Ohio - After the third day of competition at the 2018 BIG EAST Swimming & Diving Championships presented by Jeep, the Villanova women maintain a commanding lead atop the leaderboard
s adding four more gold medals to its resume.
With 657.5 points, the Wildcats are in the driver’s seat to win their fifth straight BIG EAST Championship title. In a close battle for second Georgetown leads with 452.5 points, followed by Seton Hall in third with 395 and Xavier in fourth with 387. Butler (161) and Providence (155) sit in fifth and sixth, respectively.
Coming down to the wire on the men’s side, four teams have scored at least 400 points, with the Wildcats holding a slight advantage over the defending champions, Seton Hall, 506.5 to 483. Xavier sits in third with 420.5 points, edging out Georgetown’s total of 419.5. Providence’s 156.5 points round
s out the standings.
In the women’s 400-yard IM, Villanova women captured the top four spots, with Elise Pidutti (4:18.58), Caitlin Daday (4:19.90) and Christine Sullivan (4:21.06) claiming gold, silver and bronze, respectively, while Wildcat freshman Emily Provenzo (4:23.69) placed fourth. Pidutti’s top-time also set an NCAA B-standard qualifying time in the event.
On the men’s side, Georgetown senior Daniel Ross (3:55.54) edged out Villanova sophomore Justin Cucchi (3:55.82) by .28 seconds to capture a gold medal after starting the race in lane 2 following morning preliminaries.
Setting an NCAA B-standard qualifying time in the 100 fly, Seton Hall senior Sydney Simpson (54.23) won gold, while Villanova senior Mackenzie Niness (54.63) and Xavier junior Caroline Gaertner (54.91) rounded out the top three. Also setting an NCAA B-standard on the men’s side, Villanova senior John Hoin earned 20 points for his squad with a time of 47.80.
In her fifth event (two individual, three relays), Villanova junior Alexandra Fabbri claimed her fifth gold medal at the 2018 BIG EAST Championships, winning the 200 free for the second straight year. With a time of 1:45.84, Fabbri set an NCAA B-standard in the process.
In the men’s 200 free, Seton Hall seniors Vadim Jacobson (1:36.41) and Noah Yanchulis (1:36.89) edged out freshman Andrew Strange of Georgetown (1:36.95) for gold and silver, respectively. In the first of four consecutive races, the top-three times set NCAA B-standard qualifying times.
In the women’s 100 breast, Georgetown senior Molly Fitzpatrick (1:01.83) captured her third gold medal in the event over her collegiate career. Finishing closely behind, Seton Hall senior Sydney Simpson (1:02.01) won a silver medal, while Villanova senior Heather Farley (1:02.37) secured bronze. In the men’s final, Seton Hall’s sophomore Josh Tosoni (54.92) hit the pad first, as Wildcat Tyler Nussbaum (55.04) and Musketeer Mathew Dyer (55.19) rounded out the top three.
After setting the BIG EAST record in the 100 backstroke last year, Villanova junior Darby Goodwin conquered her third gold medal in the event with a time of 53.42. Xavier’s Gaertner (54.69) and Paxtyn Drew (54.97) finished two-three. Separated by a mere .21 seconds, on the men’s side, Villanova sophomore Andrew Kelley (48.56) outstretched Georgetown’s freshman Andrew Carbone (48.72) and Xavier’s Samuel Johanns (48.77), to capture gold.
In the women’s 1-meter diving, Georgetown conquered the top three spots on the podium with Elizabeth Miller (527.55), Riley Fujioka (522.65) and Naomi Peng (503.00) finishing first through third.
The evening’s last event saw Villanova dominate the relays for the second straight night, as the Wildcats put up gold-medal finishes in both the men’s and women’s 400 medley relay. On the men’s side, Kelley swam the first leg on the winning relay squad (3:14.70), followed by Nussbaum, Hoin and Stephen Krecsmar. In the women’s event, Villanova picked up its third pool record with a time of 3:39.17. Goodwin swam the lead leg followed by Heather Farley, Niness and Taylor Wilson in the anchor position.
The final day of competition will begin at the pool at 10 a.m. for the prelims of the 200-yard backstroke, 100-yard freestyle, 200-yard breaststroke, 200-yard butterfly and men's three-meter diving. In the afternoon, the competition will begin a little earlier than the previous three days with the timed final first heat of the mile swim starting at 4 p.m. At 5:35 p.m., the BIG EAST will recognize its senior student-athletes with a short ceremony on the pool deck. Finals of the morning events and mile swim will begin at 6 p.m. The finals of the 400-freestule relay will close out the Championships.
For schedules, updates, live results and live coverage links please visit the
BIG EAST Swimming & Diving Championship Central Page on BIGEAST.com
All Championship action will air live on the BIG EAST Digital Network on Fox Sports Go, with wall-to-wall coverage that includes all event preliminaries, finals and awards. Matt Schumacker will be poolside during the finals reporting on the action.
Team Rankings - After Day 3
Women
1. Villanova (657.5 points)
2. Georgetown (452.5)
3. Seton Hall (595)
4. Xavier (387)
5. Butler (161)
6. Providence (155)
Men
1. Villanova (506.5 points)
2. Seton Hall (483)
3. Xavier (420.5)
4. Georgetown (419.5)
5. Providence (156.5)