Over the weekend, Villanova traveled to Pitt and West Virginia and fell in both matchups, 229-68 and 198-92, respectively. 

The Wildcats went into the road trip having won all three matches in 2022. However, in its first contest of the week against the Panthers, Villanova was outmatched in every aspect, only earning one first, three seconds and five thirds in the 16 events of the day.

The first of these top-three finishes came in the 1,000-yard freestyle, when junior Jake McIntyre took home Villanova’s only gold of the day in a time of 9:40. This was 12 seconds faster than sophomore teammate Charlie Hinckley, who finished second.

Freshman Aubrey Bowles gave Villanova its second silver of the day by finishing the 200-yard backstroke in a time of 1:53. This was four seconds behind Pitt’s Marcin Goraj. The final silver went to McIntyre, who finished one second behind Pitt’s Guy Frimis in the 500-yard freestyle, with a time of 4:39.

Villanova’s five third-place finishes came from sophomore Nolan Danus in the Men’s 200-yard butterfly, Hinckley in the 500-yard freestyle, junior Kevin Geist in the 100-yard butterfly, freshman Henry Halloran in the 400-yard individual medley and the 400-yard freestyle relay team consisting of Hinckley, juniors Reid Hutcherson and Ryan Maher and freshman Patrick Hemingway.

Pitt outmatched the ‘Cats in virtually every aspect, sweeping the podium in the majority of the events. There were multiple events where the Panthers had the top four spots. Pitt was led by the threesome of Flynn Crisci, who won all four events he participated in, Goraj, who finished with three golds and a silver and Frimis, who finished with two golds, two silvers and a bronze.

On Saturday against West Virginia, Villanova had very similar results to its matchup at Pitt, again only garnering one win in 18 events, although it did have more second (six) and third (seven) place finishes than the previous meet.

Villanova’s only gold of the day came when sophomore Ethan Brown took home the 200-yard backstroke by less than one-tenth of a second over West Virginia’s Justin Heimes. Brown also had a second-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke behind Heimes. 

The first of Villanova’s second place finishes was McIntyre in the 1,650-yard freestyle. He finished 25 seconds behind William Mullen. After that, Danus took home silver in the 200-yard butterfly, with a time of 1:53. Danus also took home second in the 200-yard breaststroke, finishing just 0.2 seconds faster than his sophomore teammate Richard Nolan.

Villanova performed well in the 500-yard freestyle again. This time it was Hinckley edging out McIntyre by two seconds to take silver. Villanova took home second in the 400-freestyle relay with the team of senior Jesse Marsh, Maher, Hutcherson and Hemingway. The Wildcats also had their first diving medal of the weekend, getting a third-place finish on senior Michael Ackert’s three-meter dive.

West Virginia had 33 medal winners, compared to Villanova’s 13. David Dixon led the way with four wins, including three solos. Villanova was led by Brown and Danus, who combined for one gold, three silvers and one bronze. 

Next up for Villanova is a trip to State College to face Big Ten member Penn State. The Nittany Lions are hosting their senior day for the 17 seniors on the roster. It will be the last road meet before the Big East Tournament.