The Villanova men’s and women’s swim teams both earned wins over La Salle on Saturday, Nov. 1. In their first home meet of the season, the undefeated women won, 181-114, and the men got their first win of the season, 168-132.
“I think we have a great home pool advantage,” head coach Rick Simpson said. “There’s a high level of excitement.”
Senior Arabella Lee set a pool record in the women’s 100-yard butterfly with a time of 54.99, breaking the previous record of 55.08 set by the University of Pennsylvania’s Vanessa Chong. Sophomore Alana Leen swam the 10th all-time fastest women’s 200-yard backstroke time in program history to win the 200-yard backstroke in 2:00.11.
Freshman Hugh Boris grabbed a win in the men’s 200-yard breaststroke, swimming a 2:02.27 and placing him eighth on Villanova’s all-time performers list.
“This year and the next three years after that with [Boris] are just going to be super exciting,” Simpson said.
Boris also claimed first in the men’s 100-yard breaststroke (56.86).
The scores were combined with the diving-only meet that took place in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Oct. 29.
The Wildcats totaled 18 first-place finishes across 32 swimming and diving events.
In the 200-yard freestyle, the women were also able to take first through third, with junior Riley Kudlac claiming first (1:50.26). Junior Marlene Blanke (25.94) and freshman Annie Mee (26.60) finished second and third, respectivley. The men came in first and second in the men’s 200-yard freestyle, with senior Sam Randall finishing first (1:40.06). Senior Gavin Jones finished second in 50.63.
Kudlac finished the women’s 50-yard freestyle in 23.68 to finish first, less than a 10th of a second off second place.
The women raced two teams in the 200-yard medley relay. A team of Leen, senior Winnie Jalet, freshman Anna Kilponen and Kudlac finished second (1:41.97). Lee, freshman Emily Herr, junior Anna Farley and junior Carlota Colomer Guasch finished behind them in third (1:43.43).
The men earned a similar result in the 200-yard medley relay. Sophomore Cole Gorsuch, Boris, sophomore Zach Sutter and freshman Max Kunisaki finished second (1:31.49), while junior Max Christensen, freshman Carter Gray, senior Henry Gingrich and senior Gavin Jones took third (1:33.07).
One of the men’s 400-yard freestyle relay teams took second in their race (3:06.84).
In the freestyle, junior Peri Gaguzis was able to secure first in the women’s 1000-yard freestyle (10:14.90) and sophomore Riley Hull followed in second (10:23.69).
In the men’s 1000-yard freestyle, Villanova dominated, taking the top three spots, with sophomore Owen Nye leading the pack (9:30.69).
Junior Martina Lonati took first in the women’s 100-yard freestyle (51.89), followed by her teammates, Alyssa McHale (52.12) and Colomer Guasch (52.25), who took second and third, respectively.
In the women’s 500-yard freestyle, junior Marlene Blanke claimed the top spot (5:05.74). The Wildcats were also able to secure second and third place. In the men’s 500-yard freestyle, the Wildcats finished first through fourth places, with Nye finishing in front (4:38.52).
Lee also came in first place in the women’s 100-yard backstroke (55.78). Sophomore Alana Leen claimed first in the women’s 200-yard backstroke (2:00.11) and junior Anna Farley claimed second (2:06.05).
Randall came in second in the men’s 100-yard butterfly (49.90), while Farley dominated the women’s 200-yard butterfly (2:00.63). Junior Justin Nowicki came in second in the men’s 200-yard butterfly (1:50.41).
“Every weekend that we race, we’re getting a little bit better,” Simpson said. “We’re going to have to have another jump in improvement.”
Women’s swim now heads to Penn (1-0) on Nov. 5, and the men have a Big East matchup at Providence (0-3) on Nov. 8.
