ITHACA, N.Y. – One day before the 2015 BIG EAST Swimming & Diving Championships final, the Villanova women and Xavier men continue to lead the field after three days of competition at the Ithaca College Athletics and Events Center Aquatics Pavilion.
The Wildcat women won the first three individual events of Friday night’s competition and the 400-yard medley relay, while the Musketeers also won three of the five individual races as well as the 400-yard medley relay adding to their titles from the past two days.
Friday’s highlights from the pool included Seton Hall diver Ben Mitchell capturing his fourth-straight three-meter BIG EAST Individual title and setting a new pool record with six dives scoring at 333.75. The previous school record was set at 314.60. Mitchell’s score was 644.10, as the BIG EAST Championships score both the preliminary and final as a combined total.
Xavier’s Arthur Smith repeated as the 100-yard backstroke BIG EAST Champion, with a winning time of 49.89. Villanova’s Kaisla Kollanus met an NCAA-B cut in the 200-yard freestyle with winning time of 1:47.83. Teammate Fiona Hardie won her second individual title of the meet as she repeated as the BIG EAST 100-yard Butterfly Champion with a time of 54.14.
The Xavier men saw their consecutive-winning streak snapped by Georgetown as Daniel Ross won the first event of the night, and the first for the Blue and Gray, in the 400 IM (3:56.30). The Hoyas also took second in the event with Samuel Delise touching the wall at 3:59.27.
Musketeer freshman Paxtyn Drew took the gold in the women’s 100 backstroke with a final time of 55.43. Carolyn Stewart, last year’s champion, took home silver and Jacquelyn Misanik rounded out the top three in the event for Xavier.
Seton Hall’s Noah Yanchulis won the men’s 200 freestyle event (1:39.58), recording the first individual racing champion for the Pirates.
Molly Fitzpatrick won the first women’s individual title for Georgetown of this year’s championships as she finished first in the 100 breaststroke with the time of 1:04.45.
More BIG EAST Champions crowned on Friday night included Carter Clark swimming the first-place time in the 100 breaststroke for Xavier (56.25), Villanova’s Caitlin Daday winning the women’s 400-yard IM (4:22.19) and Armando Moss in the men’s 100-yard fly (49.40).
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 women’s one-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 3:40 p.m. At 5:35 p.m., the BIG EAST will recognize its senior student-athletes will a short senior ceremony on the pool deck. Finals of the morning events and mile swim will begin at 6 p.m.
Coverage for tomorrow’s Championships will start at 10 a.m. with the prelims then restart again at 3:40 p.m. and continue through the end of the finals. Watch live on the BIG EAST Digital Network (BEDN) on FOX Sports Go.
Team Rankings – After Day 3
Women
1. Villanova (627.5 points)
2. Georgetown (482.5)
3. Xavier (359)
4. Seton Hall (311)
5. Providence (146)
6. Butler (142)
Men
1. Xavier (627 points)
2. Georgetown (523)
3. Seton Hall (468)
4. Villanova (287)
5. Providence (155)
Swimming News Courtesy Big East Conference/Kristin Quinn