NJIT vs Villanova
- November 3, 2023
- Newark, N.J.
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results
Courtesy: NJIT Athletics
NEWARK, N.J. — The NJIT men’s swimming and diving team picked up a huge dual meet victory, defeating the visiting Villanova Wildcats 157-139 Friday evening at the Joel & Diane Bloom Wellness and Events Center Natatorium.
After back-to-back years of identical 153-147 defeats (in Newark in 2021 and at Villanova in 2022), the Highlanders broke through against their foes from the Big East by claiming nine of the meet’s 16 events.
Francois Malherbe led the Highlanders charge with four overall victories (3 individual, 1 relay). Bartosz Bryg (2 individual), Aidan Blackmon (1 individual, 1 relay), Tanish Chhabra (2 relay), and Ian Horstkamp-Vinekar (2 relay) were each involved in two wins, while Sam Deemer (1 individual), Laith Sabbah (1 relay) and Matthew Bevan (1 relay) contributed to one win each.
” I was so proud of how this team swam tonight. The past two years this meet came down to the last relay and we fell short, but tonight, the entire team stepped up and won the last relay to secure the win,” head coach Ron Farina said of his team after the hard-fought triumph.
HIGHLANDER VICTORIES
- Francois Malherbe: 50 Free (20.42), 100 Free (44.69), 100 Fly (49.99)
- Bartosz Bryg: 100 Breast (58.43), 200 Breast (2:06.73)
- Aidan Blackmon: 100 Back (50.98)
- Sam Deemer: 200 Back (1:51.67)
- Laith Sabbah/Tanish Chhabra/Ian Horstkamp-Vinekar/Francois Malherbe: 400 Free Relay (3:05.31)
- Aidan Blackmon/Matthew Bevan/Ian Horstkamp-Vinekar/Tanish Chhabra: 200 Medley Relay (1:32.31)
STRENGTH IN NUMBERS
Winning a majority of the night’s races was critical to the Highlanders’ victory, but just as important was NJIT taking two of the top three spots in 11 of 16 events, giving the hosts most of an event’s points in nearly 75 percent of the dual.
BIG STATEMENT
NJIT’s win over Villanova is the program’s first over a Big East opponent since October 25, 2019, when the Highlanders defeated Providence on the road, 156.5-134.5.
NEXT UP
NJIT will have one more meet date this month – quad-team affair on Saturday, November 11 at Virginia Military Institute. The Highlanders will compete against UMBC, Howard and the host Keydets in Lexington, Va.
Courtesy: Villanova Athletics
NEWARK, N.J. – Despite six event wins in its third meet of the season, Villanova Men’s Swimming and Diving fell to NJIT 157-139 on the road Friday.
Charlie Hinckley continued his dominant senior season, winning the 200 and 500 freestyle. In a tight race, the New York, N.Y. native tapped the wall first in the 200 freestyle at 1:41.46. Later, he stormed to the finish in the 500 freestyle, clocking in at 4:37.11, well before NJIT’s Laith Sabbah who was second at 4:43.10.
Besting the field by two seconds, Nolan Danus won the 200 butterfly clocking in at 1:51.62 ahead of freshmen Justin Nowicki (1:55.52) and Brady Tierney (1:58.57) in third and fourth, respectively. Earlier in the day, Nowicki led the sweep in the 1000 freestyle, tapping the wall at 9:50.86. Brady finished second in 9:52.43 with sophomore Patrick Casey rounding out the top three in 9:53.20.
From the platform, sophomore Chris Jones secured crucial points for the Wildcats by sweeping the diving events for a second consecutive meet. The Linden, Mich. native scored 293.25 to beat NJIT divers by more than 60 points. Jones improved upon his 3 meter score from Wednesday’s competition against Rider (281.63). Winning by just one point in 1 meter, Jones outscored NJIT’s Aiden Ban 260.55 to 259.05.
Sophomore Gavin Jones had a solid outing, picking up points in three different events. Jones finished third in the 200 freestyle (1:43.90), 100 freestyle (47.61) and fourth in the 50 freestyle (21.78) for the ‘Cats.
Junior Aubrey Bowles swam his way to two top-three finishes in Newark. Bowles was the first Wildcat to touch the wall in the 200 backstroke at 1:52.44 and in the 100 backstroke in 52.21.
In the relay events, Villanova’s A team finished second in the 200 medley in 1:34.13 and in the 400 freestyle clocking 3:09.38.
The Villanova men have a quick turnaround as both the men’s and women’s team will host La Salle on Saturday at the Villanova Swim Complex.
