Villanova hosted West Virginia on Saturday, with the two teams splitting the meet. The West Virginia men dominated Villanova by a score of 172-71, while the Wildcats won in similar fashion over the Mountaineers on the women’s side. This was West Virginia’s final dual meet of the season.
On the women’s side, Villanova’s Darby Goodwin had a fantastic showing with two pool record victories in the 200 IM and 100 back, and also led-off the winning 200 medley relay. Emily Mayowas also a double winner for Villanova in the 200 and 500 freestyles. The West Virginia women earned just three individual event wins outside of diving, with Emma Harris winning the 100 breast, Julia Miranda the 100 fly and Emma Skelley the 1000 free.
The Mountaineer men won all but two events, showing some depth with no repeat individual winners. James Koval in the 1000 free and Ryan Kellyin the 200 free had particularly decisive victories. Villanova’s Jake Hoin was the only double winner on the men’s side, taking Villanova’s two wins in the 50 free and 100 fly.
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University swimming and diving team closed out the regular-season competition, as the men dominated at Villanova on Saturday.
The Mountaineer men grabbed 11 wins with four podium sweeps, on their way to a 172-71 victory against Villanova, while the WVU women won five events with two 1-2-3 finishes on springboard, to fall 147-96 to the Wildcats.
“Another very solid effort today,” said coach Vic Riggs. “The competing yesterday and the long travel day caught up with us a bit, but overall I feel we did a great job of racing. Our women’s 200 medley and freestyle relays were the fastest in season along with our men’s 200 free relay, which I feel is great considering everything. Amelie, Skelley, Merwane and James continue to compete at a high level. I’m looking forward to how our underclassmen will compete in a month. They have really progressed well this season.
“Today’s competition will be much like day four at the Big 12 Championship and it’s good for the freshmen to experience that. It’s so important to manage yourself at Big 12s, and we discussed that after the meet.”
Competition started on springboard, where the Mountaineers came out strong. Junior Michael Proietto won both events for the men and WVU went 1-2-3 on 3-meter. Proietto’s scored a 309.45 on 1-meter to and 334.13 on 3-meter. Sophomore Austin Smith placed second on 3-meter with a score of 324.08 and freshman Gerald Hodges followed in third (273.38).
For the WVU women, the Mountaineers swept the top-three finishes on both boards. Sophomore Julia Calcutt won on 1-meter, scoring 263.62. Sophomore Madelyn Woods followed in second place with a 256.72 and sophomore Averly Hobbs came in third (250.87). On 3-meter Hobbs claimed the victory, scoring 279.68, followed but teammates Woods in second (257.70) and Calcut in third (267.68).
In swimming events, the Mountaineer men started off with a win in the 200 medley relay, thanks to a 1:32.91 from sophomore Merwane El Merini, sophomore Jake Armstrong, freshman Jack Frazier and sophomore Drew Damich.
The WVU men and women both recorded wins in the 1,000 freestyle with the men also earning 1-2-3 finishes. Junior James Koval secured the win for the men, touching the wall in 9:39.46. Senior Emma Skelley claimed the win for the women with a time of 10:11.85.
Freshman Ryan Kelly led the way for the WVU men in the 200 freestyle, winning the race with a time of 1:41.07.
In the men’s 200 individual medley, freshman Jack Portmann was good for the win with a time of 1:56.08.
Freshman Julia Miranda added another win for the WVU women in the 100 butterfly, as she touched the wall in 57.12. Miranda won by just 0.29 seconds.
With another victory for the Mountaineer men, freshman Matthew Marsh touched in first in the 100 freestyle with a time of 47.74.
El Merini added to his relay win with an individual victory in the men’s 100 backstroke. He touched the wall in 50.24 to win the race by 0.88 seconds.
The WVU men swept the top-four finishes in the 500 freestyle, where freshman Trayton Saladin led the way with a time 4:39.84. Damich came in second place with a time of 4:40.67.
The next event was the 100 breaststroke where the WVU men and women claimed victories. The men grabbed 1-2-3 finishes and was led by Armstrong, who added an individual win to his relay victory. Armstrong touched the wall in 56.93, just 1.04 seconds ahead of teammate junior Drew Riebel. Sophomore Emma Harris led the way for the Mountaineer women, winning with a time of 1:06.41.
The day concluded with a WVU win in the men’s 200 freestyle relay. A Mountaineer team of El Merini, Damich and freshmen Sam Neaveil and Austin Hartke touched the wall in a season best, 1:24.22. El Merini added his second relay win on top of his one individual victory.
The WVU women are now 5-6 in dual meets and 1-1 in Big 12 while the men are 5-4, 1-0 Big 12.
Up next, the Mountaineers have three weeks off to prepare for the Big 12 Championship from Feb. 22-25 in Austin, Texas. The four day championship meet begins at 11 a.m. ET each day.
Villanova, Pa. – The Villanova women’s swimming and diving team defeated West Virginia by a score of 147-96 at the Pavilion on Saturday afternoon. With the win, the women’s team moves to 7-2 in dual meets on the year. The men’s team fell to the Mountaineers, 172-71, bringing their overall dual meet record to 3-5.
The meet began with the diving events. Villanova’s Michael Perra placed second in the one meter dive with a score of 252.435 and fourth in the three meter dive with a score of 254.70. Bridie Dunn had fourth place finishes in both the one and three meter dives.
This marked the first win of the day for Goodwin, who went on to set two pool records later in the afternoon. Goodwin swam in the 200-yard IM, where she touched the wall at 2:05.38, besting the previous pool record mark of 2:05.65. She then bested her own pool record in the 100-yard backstroke, finishing in a time of 55.47.
In the women’s 50-yard free, Fabbri picked up the win with a time of 23.61, and Mary Spillane took third at 24.68. Emily Mayo, Jessie Randolph and Mary Snyderhelped the Wildcats to a 1-2-3 finish in the 200-yard freestyle. Mayo also earned first place honors in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:59.08.
The final women’s event of the afternoon, the 200-yard freestyle, saw Snyder, Randolph, Spillane and Wilson place first in a time of 1:36.44.
For the men’s 200-yard medley relay, Andrew Kelley,Logan Ziegler, Jake Hoin and Christopher Paynter took second place in a time of 1:35.05. Individually, Hoin won the 100-yard butterfly and 50-yard freestyle, touching the wall at 50.69 and 21.48, respectively.
Justin Cucchi was narrowly edged in the men’s 200-yard IM, placing second with a time of 1:56.19, which was just .11 seconds behind the first place finisher. In the men’s 100-yard freestyle, Stephen Krecsmar clocked in at an even 48.00, taking second place. Andrew Kelley followed that up with a second place finish of his own in the 100-yard backstroke.
Villanova will return to action next weekend on Friday, Feb. 3 against Penn State. The meet will be part of the Alumni Day festivities. Senior Day will take place on Saturday, Feb. 4 before the Nova Sprint Festival.
For up-to-date coverage of Villanova swimming and diving, follow the program on Facebook (Villanova Swimming), Twitter (NovaSwimming), and Instagram (VU_Swimming).
James swam five years at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in 2018, graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics. In 2019 he completed his graduate degree in sports journalism.
Prior to going to Laurentian, James swam …
