The Villanova men’s swimming and diving team pulled off a 153-147 Win Over NJIT (0-3 overall) on Friday, giving the team its first win of the season. The match was highlighted by junior freestyle Jake McIntyre and senior diver Michael Ackert, as they both won two events each and collectively tallied six first place finishes to help Villanova improve to 1-1 on the season.

The meet started well as ‘Nova pulled off a sweep of first, second and third in the 1000 free. McIntyre placed first at 9:48.91 as he narrowly finished ahead of freshman Aubrey Bowles (9:49.37). Not far behind, sophomore Richard Nolan came in third with a time of 10:00.92. Later in the 500 free, McIntyre and sophomore Charlie Hinckley took first and second with times of 4:40.83 and 4:48.20, respectively. Bowles placed fourth with a time of 4:50.08.

In the 200 breaststroke, Nolan finished first by just under three-quarters of a second to win at 2:08.63. Freshman Henry Halloran put points up for the ‘Cats with a fourth place-finish at 2:12.70. Freshman Patrick Hemingway won the 50 free with a time of 21.51. Junior Ryan Maher finished fourth in the 50 free with a time of 22.07, and senior Jesse Marsh finished fifth with a time of 22.46.

The Wildcats also had two teams in the 200 medley relay, placing second and fourth. Sophomore Ethan Brown led the Team A lineup for ‘Nova followed by Nolan, Marsh and Hemingway. The team finished in 1:35.56 to come in second behind NJIT.  The second team started with freshman Carson Brockette and finished with Halloran, junior Kevin Geist and freshman Andrew Mitchill, with the team putting up a time of 1:37.89 for fourth place.

On the diving side, the men swept the top three spots for both the one-meter and three-meter boards. Ackert won both competitions with 273.60 points on the three-meter and 284.50 points on the one-meter. In the three-meter, freshman Nicholas Jubilee came in second with 268.57 points and sophomore Noah Clipman followed in third with 250.87 points. The one-meter saw flipped results, as Clipman came in second with 258.00 points and Jubilee followed with 237.00 points.

The final event, the 200 free relay, featured a second and third finish by the Wildcats’ best teams. Maher, Marsh, Mitchill and Hemingway hung behind the NJIT winning team with a time of 1:26.88 for second place. Hinckley, Brown, Geist and junior Reid Hutcherson followed close behind in third with a time of 1:28.25. A third team participated in the relay with Brockette, Bowles, junior Stephen Griner and sophomore Nolan Danus placing sixth with a time of 1:32.01.

Villanova comes home to face Penn in its first home match of the season in a dual meet with the women’s team. The meet is set for Wednesday at 5 p.m.