On Nov. 8, Villanova’s women’s swim and dive team took on Penn, and fell, 171.5-120.5.

The meet took place in Philadelphia. The ‘Cats trailed in the first few events, including the 200 yard medley, where Villanova came in second. The ‘Cats’ best performance in the 1000-yard free was freshman Marlene Blanke’s fourth-place finish.

Senior Audrey Pastorek had the first win of the meet for Villanova in the 100-yard backstroke, with a time of 56.28. Pastorek took first in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:02.16. Freshman Alyssa McHale also took a win for Villanova in the 100-yard butterfly, with a time of 57.20. 

Pastorek walked away with one more win of the day in the 200 yard IM, with a time of 2.08:61. The last win for the Wildcats was the 400 freestyle relay, where McHale, senior Lexi Elkovitch, senior Molly Benson and graduate student Lauyrn Johnson took the victory. The ‘Cats also also claimed second in the event with a different team.

There were many notable performances in the meet including one by sophomore Mary Kate Farrell, who came in close second for the 200 freestyle, ending with a time of 1:53.40. 

Over the span of Nov. 16 to Nov. 18, both the men’s and women’s teams traveled to West Virginia to compete in the WV Invitational. No team scoring was recorded for the event.

White performed strongly, with a time of 2:02.11 in the prelim of the 200 butterfly, improving her time in the final to 2:01.83, which earned her second. 

On the men’s team, senior Charlie Hinckley took fourth in the 1650 freestyle, finishing with a time of 15:50.68. Hinckley was followed by freshmen Justin Nowicki and Ben Tunila, who had times of 16:03.82 (11th) and 16:19.49 (20th), respectively. Junior Nicholas Jubilee competed in the three-meter dive, with a strong performance of 266.50. 

The ‘Cats are finished competing for the rest of the semester and will pick back up in January when the women take on Richmond and the men compete against Providence.