On Friday, Nov. 4, the Villanova men’s swimming and diving team defeated New Jersey Institute of Technology, 153-147, in the Villanova Swim complex. Out of the 16 events, the Wildcats won seven. 

The Wildcats earned most of their early points during the diving competitions behind the efforts of sophomore diver Nicholas Jubilee and freshman diver Chris Jones. During the 1-meter dive, Jubilee came in first place, with a score of 271.88, and Jones came in second place, with a score of 245.09, earning the team 13 points combined. For the 3-meter dive Jubilee also came in first place scoring 285.53, and Jones came in third place, with a score of 234.37. 

During the 1000 Free, freshman Patrick Casey took first place, with a final time of 9:53.87, and three seconds behind him was senior free/back Jake McIntyre (9:56.44). Sophomore free/back Aubrey Bowles gave the Wildcats a 1-2-3 finish and took third place (9:59.86). All together, the swimmers earned the Wildcats 16 points with their wins. 

Another victory for the Wildcats came in the 100 Backstroke with junior Ethan Brown’s winning time of 51.74. Junior Charlie Hinckley followed 0.08 seconds later, and with the majority of Wildcats coming in fifth place or above, they earned the team 15 points. 

In addition, Bowles’ took first place in the 200 Back by about five-tenths of a second, with a time of 1:53.28. Hinckley would later go on to win the 500 Free, touching in at 4:41.59, and McIntyre quickly followed in third place at 4:42.21. 

During the 500 Free, the Wildcats picked up another win after senior Reid Hutcherson touched in at 4:52:51. 

Despite all of the wins by the Wildcats, the Highlanders remained strong throughout the entire competition. Highlander Zachary Kuzak took first place in the 200 Free at 1:43.16, and in the 100 Breast, Matthew Bevan touched the wall first at 58.18. 

Many of the Highlanders’ wins came during the shorter races. Ian Horstkamp-Vinekar beat the Wildcats in the 200 Butterfly at 1:54.19, and Tanish Chhabra finished first in the 50 Free, with a time of 21.30, as well as in the 100 Free, touching in at 47.38. Bevans and Horstkamp-Vinekar also placed first again during the 200 Breastroke (2:08.76) and the 100 Butterfly (51.99). The final singles event that the Highlanders took was the 200 IM, with Andrew Lucky touching in at 1:55:66. 

Despite not coming in first during these races, the Wildcats still earned a lot of points by coming in second or third. During the 200 Free, Hutcherson finished at 1:44:44, only 1.5 seconds behind Kuzak. Freshman Mikey Thurk placed in third place in the 100 Breaststroke (59. 48) and the 100 Free (47.72). Senior Ryan Maher and freshman Sam Randall finished second (1:56.26) and third (1:58.07) in the 200 Butterfly. Sophomore Patrick Hemingway finished second in the 50 Freestyle

The meet came down to the relay races with each team neck and neck with points. The Highlanders claimed the 200 Medley Relay with Bevan, Vinekar-Horstkamp, Chhabra and Aidan Blackmon taking charge to win by a final time of 1:33.49. 

Everything came down to the exciting 200 Free Relay, which the Wildcats won by two-tenths of a second. Leading the Wildcats was Hemingway followed by freshman Alex Hamil. With the help of Thurk and freshman Henry Gingrich, the team was able to finish in 1:25.50, just barely beating the Highlander’s time of 1:25.70. During this race, the Wildcat’s B squad came in third place and finished only a second after its first place teammates. 

The Wildcats’ next meet will take place Nov. 9 at Penn. The meet is set to start at 5 p.m. at Sherr Pool.