Courtesy of Villanova Athletics
Senior Nicholas Jubilee has set a new school record in the men's 3-meter dive.
Monday, Feb. 24, kicked off Day One of the week-long Big East Swimming and Diving Championships in Geneva, Ohio. The women’s Villanova swimming and diving team is attempting to capture its twelfth-straight Big East Championship.
The Wildcats had a successful first day, highlighted by huge performances from the women’s 800-yard freestyle relay team and senior diver Nicholas Jubilee. Villanova finished Day One with the women in second (116 points) and the men in third (89 points).
In the first event of the day, the women swam the 800-yard freestyle relay. Villanova’s team was made up of sophomore Riley Kudlac, freshman Amylia Higgins, sophomore Anna Farley and sophomore Martina Lonati.
It was a photo finish as Villanova swam a collective time of 7:15.66 in the relay to achieve the gold medal and a first-place finish. The finish was only 0.13 seconds faster than Xavier, who came in second with a time of 7:15.79.
The four now have the ninth-fastest 800-yard free time in school history.
A second gold medal was claimed by Jubilee in the 3-meter dive. During the morning preliminary dive, Jubilee dove for a score of 330.95 which clinched the second seed in the finals set for later in the day.
Jubilee then shattered his prelim performance with a score of 370.85 in the 3-meter final to set a new program record.
He finished with a total of 701.8 points and is the first Wildcat to win the 3-meter dive at the Big East Championships since 2021 when Michael Ackert won with a total score of 604.85. The previous school record was 625.30 points by Michael Perra in 2018.
Also on Day One, the men’s 800-yard freestyle relay, comprised of freshman Gavin Peck, junior Gavin Jones, junior Sam Randall and sophomore Justin Nowicki, swam to a fourth-place finish with a time of 6:36.57. It is the fourth-best time in program history.
Day One was capped off with both the men’s and women’s 200-yard medley relay. Freshman Cole Gorsuch, junior Mikey Thurk, freshman Zach Sutter and senior Patrick Hemingway swam a time of 1:28.68 to finish fourth. It was just 0.05 seconds short of tying the program record.
On the women’s side of the 200-yard medley, freshman Alana Leen, junior Winnie Jalet, junior Arabella Lee and graduate Lexi Elkovitch, finished fourth as well with a time of 1:40.53.
Villanova swimming and diving is currently taking on the second day of the Big East Championships. Day Two events include the 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard individual medley, 50-yard freestyle, the women’s 3-meter dive and 200-yard freestyle relay.