Championship Central  | Friday Results | Video Highlights 
 
GENEVA, Ohio  – Through 28 events and three days, the Villanova women and the Xavier men continue to maintain their respective leads in the 2021 BIG EAST Swimming & Diving Championships Presented by JEEP. The Villanova women have a 40-point lead over second-place UConn with 584 points to the Huskies’ 543. The Xavier men have 573 points, while second place Villanova has 496.

The competition will conclude tomorrow at the Spire Institute with preliminaries starting at 10 a.m. ET and the finals competition starting at 3:50 p.m.
 
Leading off for the women’s championship, Villanova junior Kelly Montesi earned gold in the 400-yard IM for the third consecutive year. Montesi won with a time of 4:11.98. In second was the 500-yard freestyle winner from UConn, Niamh Hofland. Wildcat teammate Millicent Rutledge repeated as the winner in the 200 freestyle, finishing with a time of 1:49.09, rounding out the two event wins for VU on Friday night.
 
Second-place UConn closed in on the Wildcats with three individual event winners and a relay victory. Husky junior Linnea Anderson won the 100 butterfly with a time of 54.44. She also swam the third leg of the Huskies’ gold-medal 400 medley relay which finished ahead of second-place Villanova with a time of 3:41.53. Also on the gold-medal 400 medley relay squad were Kayla Mendonca, Katelyn Walsh and Melissa Lowry. Mendonca and Walsh were also individual winners on Friday. Mendonca, a freshman, won the 100 backstroke with a time of 55.11. Walsh won the 100- yard breaststroke with a time of 1:01.74.
 
On the men’s side, Xavier won two individual events and the relay, while Villanova won two events and Seton Hall and Providence each won one. Xavier’s 400-medley relay team finished first with a time of 3:15.07.
 
Xavier senior Christian Thomas won his sixth and seventh career BIG EAST gold medal as he swam the anchor of the 400 medley relay and also won the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 48:48. Teammate Andrew Martin won gold in the 200 freestyle, his second individual win of the week. Martin’s 200 freestyle win came with a time of 1:36.68.
 
Villanova’s two event wins came in the pool and in the diving well with repeat winners from this year’s championship. Freshman Richard Nolan won gold in the 400 IM with a time of 3:52.21. Nolan won his first BIG EAST title on Thursday with the 500 freestyle. Michael Ackert won his second gold off the diving platform with 551.05 points in the 1-meter event.
 
Seton Hall senior Liam Cosgrove earned his third consecutive gold in the 100 butterfly finishing with a time of 47.70.
 
Providence sophomore Kevin Hood became the first Friar to bring home a men's BIG EAST swimming and Diving championship since Horace Bowden in 1985 as he won the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 55.52.
 
The final day of competition starts Saturday morning with the prelims of the women’s and men’s 200 backstroke. The final events left for the 2021 championships include the 100 freestyle, the 200 breaststroke and 200 butterfly. The finals will start in the afternoon with the 1,650 freestyle. There are two heats scheduled with 13 participants.
 
For schedules, heat sheets, updates, live results and live coverage links please visit Championship Central on BIGEAST.com.
 
Women’s Team Scores (Through Event 28)
1. Villanova – 584 points
2. UConn --  543
3. Xavier – 369
4. Seton Hall – 319
5. Providence – 155
6. Butler – 148
 
Men’s Team Scores (Through Event 28)
1. Xavier – 573 points
2. Villanova – 496
3. Seton Hall – 415
4. Providence – 335.5
5. UConn – 67.5