Photo: Kostas Lymperopoulos
Close Races Finish Out Day Two of #BEswim Championships
Day Two Results | Friday Prelim Heat Sheets
EAST MEADOW, N.Y.
- After the second day of competition at the 2020 BIG EAST Swimming & Diving Championships presented by Jeep, the Villanova women surged to the top of the leaderboard with three gold medal finishes.
With 330 points, the Wildcats hold a sizeable lead over the rest of the pack, as Georgetown sits in second with 266 points, followed by Xavier in third with 201 and Seton Hall in fourth with 172. Providence (106) and Butler (105) sit in fifth and sixth, respectively.
On the men's side four teams have scored at least 230 points, with the Musketeers and Wildcats knotted at 246 points in first place. Seton Hall sits closely behind in third with 237 points, while Georgetown (234) and Providence (112) round out the standings.
In the women's 500-yard freestyle, Villanova's Nicole Welch (4:49.64) took the gold for the second-consecutive year just .01 seconds off of her mark in 2019. Seton Hall's Julie Stankiewicz claimed the silver at a 4:52.41 mark while the Wildcats earned the bronze with freshman Brenna McLaughlin touching the pad at 4:53.93.
In the men's 500 free, Brett Sherman broke the Georgetown program record with a time of 4:22.63 to take the gold for the second straight year. Xavier's Andrew Martin took home the silver after a late surge to finish with a mark of 4:23.41. Ben Laclair of Seton Hall claimed the bronze medal with a time of 4:24.86, nearly four seconds faster than his preliminary time. Sherman's finish marked an NCAA-B standard qualifying time.
In the 200 IM, Villanova women captured the top three spots, with Kelly Montesi, Rayann Jaryszak and Kaitlin Gravell claiming gold, silver and bronze, respectively. On the men's side, Georgetown's Andrew Carbone claimed the gold for the third year in a row with an NCAA-B qualifying time en route to breaking his own record. Villanova's Justin Cucchi earned silver at a mark of 1:47.37 while Michael Baldini of Georgetown claimed the bronze to round out the top-three.
In the fastest event at the BIG EAST Swimming and Diving Championships, Villanova's Millicent Routledge (22.79) just outstretched Xavier's Emily Conners (22.96) to claim the gold. Georgetown's Belinda Donohoe claimed the bronze at 23.25. For the men, Seton Hall freshman Thomas Minar claimed the gold with a personal best time of 20.36. Stephen Krecsmar earned the silver just behind Minar at 20.54 while Xavier's Christian Thomas (20.63) claimed the bronze.
In the men's 3-meter diving, the two-time defending champion in the event, Michael Perra of Villanova, totaled a score of 568.10 to take home his fifth career gold medal at a BIG EAST Swimming and Diving Championship. Wildcat teammate Michael Ackert earned the silver with a personal best dive in the finals with a score of 282.35 and a total of 544.15. Georgetown's Joseph Hofman tallied a score of 501.00 to earn bronze.
The night's last event saw Xavier put up a gold medal performance in the women's 200 free with a time of 1:31.95. Villanova claimed the silver with a time of 1:33.29. On the men's side, it came down to the very end with Xavier and Seton Hall finishing in a tie for the gold with a time of 1:21.05. Xavier's Brandon Abboud posted a split of 19.98 in the third leg to put the Musketeers in position for a strong finish before Seton Hall's anchor Samuel Hendrix turned in a 19.81 split to earn the Pirates 37 points.
Day 3 will begin at 10 a.m. ET with the prelims for the 400-IM, 100-fly, 200-free, 100-breast, 100-back and the women's three-meter diving with the finals being run in the fifth session of the championships at 6 p.m. ET on Friday. The finals of the 400-medley relay will close out the session.
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 the BIG EAST Conference YouTube Channel, with wall-to-wall coverage that includes all event preliminaries, finals and awards. Meghan Caffrey will be poolside during the finals reporting on all of the action.
Team Rankings - After Day 2
Women
1. Villanova (330 points)
2. Georgetown (266)
3. Xavier (201)
4. Seton Hall (172)
5. Providence (106)
6. Butler (105)
Men
1. Xavier (246 points)
Villanova (246)
3. Seton Hall (237)
4. Georgetown (234)
5. Providence (112)