Lucky 13th Big East Title for Villanova with Record Score; Georgetown Men Win 5th in a Row
Villanova’s women’s swimming and diving team won its 13th consecutive Big East title with a record score, while Georgetown won its fifth straight men’s crown.
Villanova tallied 1,754 points, easily getting past UConn (1,520) and Georgetown (1,303) at Florida Aquatics Swimming and Training in Ocala, Fla. The Wildcats are one shy of the Big East record for consecutive swimming titles, with Notre Dame having won 14 straight from 1997-2010.
Big East Championships Women’s Scores
- Villanova 1,754
- UConn 1,520
- Georgetown 1,303
- Xavier 1,003.5
- Butler 581.5
- Seton Hall 559
- Providence 521
Big East Championships Men’s Scores
- Georgetown 910.5
- Seton Hall 742.5
- Villanova 610
- Xavier 582.5
- Providence 163.5
Nova was led by Carlota Colomer Guasch, who tallied 94 points to be named Most Outstanding Swimmer of the meet by winning the 50 freestyle, 100 free and 200 free plus four relays. Villanova also produced the meet’s outstanding diver in 3-meter champ Michelle Kasulka.
The Georgetown men got the win with 910.5 points, well up on Seton Hall’s 742.5 and Villanova at 610. Owen Watkins swept the 50 free, 100 free and 100 fly to become Most Outstanding Swimmer, and he automatically qualified for NCAAs with his time of 19.21 seconds in the 50 free. Georgetown was led by first-year coach John Carroll, named the conference’s Coaching Staff of the Year.
Seton Hall’s Nick Graham was named the Most Outstanding Male Diver after he won both springboards.
On the women’s side, Villanova won 15 of 17 swimming events, many in dominant fashion. Like Colomer Guasch (1:48.89) and Kayla Bolster going 1-2 in the 200 free. Or Kate White (16:29.88) and Peri Gaguzis in the 1,650 free. Or Gaguzis’ time of 4:15.51 leading Meghan Tiernan to the line in the 400 individual medley in Villanova taking five of the top six spots. Or Tiernan leading a 1-2-3 result in the 200 IM with her time of 1:59.54 leading Anna Farley and Emily Herr to the wall.
The Wildcats also took three of the top four in each butterfly event. Anna Kilponen won the 100 in 53.45 with Farley third. Farley went 1:58.45 to edge Tiernan by a tenth in the 200 with Kilponen fourth.
Colomer Guasch swept the sprints. She went 23.63 in the 50 to edge Xavier’s Olivia Oyster, who had been the fastest by some distance in prelims at 22.61. Colomer Guasch tied with UConn’s Jessica Sheng for the title in the 100 free in maybe the race of the meet, both swimmers going 49.98 with Oyster third in 50.03.
White won the 500 free in 4:50.10. Bolster claimed the 200 back in 1:56.75. Winnie Jalet swept breaststroke, going 1:01.47 to win the 100 by .04 over UConn’s Sydney Perkins and 2:12.94 in the 200.
Villanova won the 200 free, 800 free, 200 medley and 400 free relays. Colomer Guasch was part of all four. Bolster and Farley were part of three each.
The only individual race Villanova didn’t win was the 100 backstroke, in which Rhian Russell edged her UConn teammate Sheng to the wall in 54.16. UConn also put forth four of the top six scorers in 1-meter diving, led by Olivia Denery’s score of 268.25. (Kasulka was fourth in that event for Villanova before winning 3-meter in 274.20.)
Xavier won the 400 medley relay via Maggie O’Toole, Jordyn Libler, Norah Simich and Oyster in 3:39.09, seventh tenths up on Villanova. Simich was second in the 100 fly and third in the 200 fly. Libler was fourth in both breaststroke events. Oyster was also third in the 200 free.
Watkins starred in the sprints for Georgetown. He went 19.27 in prelims of the 50 to book the auto spot in NCAAs then was quicker in finals at 19.21, winning by eight tenths of a second. He went 42.61 in the 100 free to just miss the auto cut of 42.55 (he split 42.28 off the end of the 400 free relay).
He also outdueled reigning champion Michael Klimaszewski in the 100 fly. Klimaszewski, the Seton Hall senior who set the meet record at 46.15 last year, went 46.52 in finals, slower than the 46.41 he went in prelims and opening the door for Watkins to go 46.44 and beat him. Klimaszewski was also second in the 100 free.
Georgetown’s dominance was fueled by breaststroke. Nick Pezzella won the 100 in 53.95, as Bailey De Luise and Michael Mostofi followed in a 1-2-3 sweep. It was the same in the 200 breast, Pezzella winning in 1:57.83 ahead of Ben Tunila and Mostofi, with De Luise seventh.
The Hoyas won four of five relays. Their 200 free went 1:19.06 to edge Xavier by .12 seconds. The winning margin in the 400 free was .46 seconds over Seton Hall. Watkins was on three winning relays, as was Isaac Holtham (fourth in the 100 back) and Tre Cottrell (second in the 200 free, fourth in the 200 IM).
The only real claimant to Watkins’ Big East Most Outstanding Swimmer honor was Seton Hall’s Balint Marosi. He won the 100 back in 48.45, the 200 back in 1:45.00 (from an outside lane after finishing seventh in prelims) and the 200 IM in 1:45.82, the latter over teammate Kevin Cary. Balint teamed with Evan Wilson, Klimaszewski and Cary to win the 400 medley relay in 3:12.79.
Cary won the 200 free in 1:36.23. Jack Callan did the distance double, edging Xavier’s Connor Lathrop by a half-second to win the 500 in 4:26.25 and then claimed the 1,650 in a 1-2-3 result for the Pirates with Zachary McLeod and Clil Halevi. Halevi was fourth in the 500.
Aiden Leamer picked up a win for Xavier by going 1:44.94. That was .09 seconds better than Justin Nowicki of Villanova. Nowicki won the 400 IM in 3:47.65 and was third in the 200 IM. Lathrop was second in the 200 back, second in the 500 free and second in the 400 IM for the Musketeers, who had Sean McGinley finish second in the 50 free and third in the 100.
Graham dominated both diving events. He scored 348.23 on 1-meter to beat Villanova’s Nate Warson by 23 points, then scored 370.05 to run away with 3-meter.
