The Villanova women picked up a pair of wins in a tri-meet against West Virginia and Iowa State. In a tight team battle, Iowa State also managed a win over West Virginia, 158-141. On the men’s side, the West Virginia men took the victory against Villanova to prevent a sweep with a convincing 200-77 score.
Villanova:
Morgantown, W.Va. – The Villanova women’s swimming and diving team (7-1, 2-0 BIG EAST) defeated the West Virginia Mountaineers (175-122) and the Iowa State Cyclones (173-124) Friday evening. The Wildcat men (2-6, 1-2 BIG EAST) fell to WVU 200-77.
The Villanova women opened up the meet with a victory in the 400 medley relay. The “A” team of Darby Goodwin, Elise Pidutti,Fiona Hardie, and Alexa Fabbri touched the wall at 3:51.46.
Sophomore Caitlin Daday and junior Erin Merkle placed second (10:19.35) and third (10:31.46) respectively in the 1000 freestyle Friday. Daday would also take home second place in the 500 free with a time of 5:02.18. Junior Emily Mayo won the event with a 4:59.50 showing.
In the 200 freestyle, Villanova took home the top two spots as senior Kaisla Kollanus and Mayo placed first and second overall. Kollanus finished at 1:51.93 while Mayo touched the wall at 1:52.43.
Kollanus also took home victories in the 50 free (23.84) and the 100 free at 51.40. Fabbri placed second in the 100 free at 52.25 and also finished third in 50 free at 24.28.
Freshman Darby Goodwin would win the 100 back at 56.41 and narrowly defeated Iowa State’s Marissa Engel in the 200 back by 23 hundredths of a second. Goodwin finished at 2:04.03 while Engel placed second at 2:04.26. The Jupiter, Fla. native also had a strong showing in the 200 IM taking second place with a 2:06.71 time.
Sophomore Mackenzie Niness collected her first individual win of the year in the 200 fly with a 2:05.62 showing. Senior Fiona Hardie was right behind her in second place at 2:06.47. The same duo would have reverse results in the 100 fly as Hardie took home first at 56.35 and Niness placed second at 57.81.
The quartet of Fabbri, Hardie, Taylor Wilson, and Kollanus closed out the evening with a win in the 200 yard free relay finishing just ahead of Iowa State at 1:36.76.
Overall, the Wildcat women had ten-first place, seven-second place, and four-third place victories.
For the Villanova men, freshman Luke Sabal and sophomore Jake Hoin each had strong outings Friday. Hoin and Sabal each placed second and third respectively in the 100 fly. Hoin finished 29 hundredths of a second behind West Virginia’s Chase Williams at 50.51 while Sabal touched the wall at 53.32.
Senior Nikolai Tchobanov and junior Harrison Rodts finished second (4:30.98) and third (4:32.27) respectively in the 400 IM. Tchobanov also placed third in the 200 breast at 2:21.10 while Rodts finished second in the 1000 free at 10:11.82. Sophomore Tyler Nussbaum posted a 2:16.18 time in the 200 breast which was good for second overall.
In the 500 free, junior Greg Cino and sophomore John Paul Naughton went 2-3 with times of 4:59.79 and 5:00.85.
The Villanova women return to action tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. as they travel to Richmond, Va. to take on the Richmond Spiders. The men won’t return to the pool until next Sat. Feb. 6. when both teams will travel to University Park, Pa. to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions.
West Virginia:
Iowa State:
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – The Iowa State swimming and diving team (6-4, 2-0 Big 12) topped West Virginia (1-5, 0-2 Big 12), 158-141, in a thrilling finish and fell short to Villanova (7-1, 2-0 Big East), 173-124, in a co-ed double dual Friday night at WVU Natatorium.
The win over the Mountaineers improved the Cyclones to 3-0 in the all-time series, while the matchup with the Wildcats was the first between the teams. The last two meetings between Iowa State and West Virginia have been decided by a total of 31 points.
Races were tight coming out of the gate, as the Cyclones took the second and fourth spots in the 400 medley relay to open the night. The Iowa State ‘A’ squad of Marissa Engel, Kasey Roberts, Kaylee Kucera and Mary Kate Luddy took second in a time of 3:53.92, just 1.07 seconds ahead of the Iowa State ‘B’ grouping in fourth.
Silqi Luo took third place in the 200 freestyle for the Cyclones, touching in 1:52.65. That was followed by three Iowa State swimmers – Engel, Harper Emswiler and Guy Shilon – all placing in the top half of a 12-swimmer field in the 100 backstroke. Emswiler led the Cyclone effort with a time of 57.88 seconds.
Danica Delaquis continued her recent surge in rivaling Roberts as the fastest breaststroke swimmer for the Cyclones as the pair finished in the top two spots of the 100 breaststroke for the second-straight meet. Roberts took the crown with a time of 1:04.76 and Delaquis finished in 1:07.14.
The 50 freestyle was another tight race between the three squads, with the top-eight finishers separated by just .95 seconds. Team captain Savanna Townsend led the Iowa State effort, touching in 24.42 seconds.
Entering the diving break, the Cyclones trailed the Mountaineers, 78-71, and the Wildcats, 89-59.
As they have all season, Elyse Brouillette and Julie Dickinson led the Cyclones in the diving well, both finishing in the top-5 of both events. Becky Stochl also took seventh-place on both boards.
Brouillette took home yet another victory on the one-meter board, tallying 280.00 points to edge out West Virginia’s Lindsay Schmidt by 2.45 points. Dickinson took third with 261.75 points, while Stochl earned a mark of 219.35.
On the three-meter board it was Dickinson’s turn to lead the Cyclones, as she finished with a score of 285.35 to take second place. Brouillette claimed fifth with 260.70 points, followed by Stochl two slots lower with 224.00 points.
The divers’ success proved to be the initial splash that helped the Cyclones build a tidal wave of momentum down the back half of the meet.
Roberts and Delaquis again stood out in the breaststroke field, this in the 200 yard race. Roberts took first place with a time of 2:20.54, while Delaquis took third in 2:25.45. Roberts later turned the night into a 3-for-3 sweep, winning the 200 IM by touching the wall in 2:05.41 to set up the deciding final event: the 200 freestyle relay.
Iowa State’s ‘A’ squad – comprised of Alex Flatness, Townsend, Maddie Rastall and Laura Miksch – swam to a second-place finish in 1:37.17 to put the Cyclones over the 150-point mark and clinch the meet against West Virginia. The Iowa State ‘B’ group finished close behind with a time of 1:37.68.
Iowa State returns to Beyer Pool for one last meet in the 2015-16 regular season, hosting Kansas Feb. 5-6 for the Cyclones’ Senior Day. Competition on Feb. 5 is set for a 6 p.m. start, followed by a 10 a.m. start on Feb. 6.
Swimming news courtesy of Villanova, Iowa State, and West Virginia Swimming & Diving.