Nine Pool Records Fall As Mountaineers, Wildcats Split At Villanova

West Virginia vs Villanova

• Saturday, October 27, 2018
• Villanova Swim Complex
• Villanova, Pennsylvania
• Villanova Press Release
• West Virginia Press Release
• Full Results (PDF)
• Women’s Score: Villanova 154, West Virginia 146
• Men’s Score: West Virginia 236, Villanova 64

The Villanova men and women hosted West Virginia in a pair of dual meets on Saturday, with the Mountaineer men winning in dominant fashion while the Wildcat women edged out WVU by just eight points. The final score for the men was 236-64 for West Virginia, and the final tally for the women was 154-146 Villanova.

Women’s Meet

Though the Wildcats ultimately emerged with the win, the Mountaineer women still won ten out of sixteen events, including three from Morgan Bullock who set Villanova Swim Complex pool records in two of them.

Bullock started off with a win in the 200 fly in a time of 2:00.65, and then followed up with consecutive pool records in the 100 fly (55.58) and 200 IM (2:03.01). Villanova’s Kelly Montesi was the runner-up in both butterfly events, clocking times of 56.39 and 2:04.47, while another Wildcat Darby Goodwin was 2nd in the 200 IM in 2:04.87.

Goodwin had two wins of her own for Villanova in the 100 (56.51) and 200 back (2:01.84), and her teammate Nicole Welch also doubled up in the 500 (5:00.70) and 1000 freestyles (10:15.71). West Virginia’s Lauryn Kallay was the runner-up to Welch in both distance frees, and also picked up the win in the 200 free (1:52.10).

WVU’s Emma Harris was the fourth swimmer to win multiple individual swimming events with a sweep of the 100 and 200 breaststrokes in 1:03.83 and 2:17.75 respectively, and they also had a sweep of the 1 and 3-meter diving events from Julia Calcutt.

The other individual win for Villanova came in the 100 free, where Taylor Wilson (51.57) led a 1-2-3 finish with Millicent Routledge (51.70) and Alexa Fabbri (52.04).

Their 100 free strength would came in handy at the end of the meet, as after West Virginia won three consecutive events, Villanova entered the last event, the 400 free relay, trailing by a single point.

In the relay, Abbey Berloco (52.54), Wilson (50.26), Fabbri (51.45) and Routledge (51.40) combined for a time of 3:25.65, taking out WVU (3:26.95) and solidifying the dual win.

The two other pool records to fall on the women’s side came from West Virginia’s Julia Nilton in the 50 free (23.45), and their 200 medley relay team of Ally Vannetta (26.32), Harris (29.07), Nilton (25.03) and Giselle Gursoy (23.68) who combined for a winning time of 1:44.10 over Villanova’s 1:44.65.

Men

The men’s meet was a much more lopsided affair, as the Mountaineers won all but two events as they topped the Wildcats by 172 points.

David Dixon was their top point getter with three individual victories, two of them being pool records. The sophomore set new pool marks in the 200 fly (1:44.61) and 200 IM (1:48.05), and also won the 200 breast in 2:03.16. Both the 200 fly and 200 breast were an example of West Virginia’s dominance in the meet, as they swept the top-4 and 5 spots in the two respective events.

Their other double winners were Max Gustafson in the 200 (1:41.05) and 500 free (4:41.44), Angelo Russo in the 100 back (49.81) and 100 fly (50.35), and diver Nick Cover in the 1-meter (293.77) and 3-meter (344.03).

Redshirt senior Tristen Disibio was the other individual pool record setter in the 100 breast (56.19), beating freshman teammate Fausto Huerta by .01, and they also set pool marks in both relays.

In the 200 medley, Russo (22.83), Disibio (25.21), Dixon (20.95) and Merwane Elmerini (20.22) combined for a time of 1:29.21, and the 400 free relay team of Elmerini (45.79), Drew Damich (45.23), Gustafson (45.75) and Sam Neaveill (46.12) put up a 3:02.89. WVU also had their ‘B’ teams take 2nd in both relays.

The Mountaineers also had a win from Tom Hubbard in the 1000 free (9:52.70), and in the 100 free Damich (45.80) went 1-2 with Elmerini (45.83) in a very close race.

Villanova’s two wins came in the 50 free, where Stephen Krecsmar (20.79) edged Elmerini (21.00), and the 200 back where Justin Cucchi (1:51.51) topped West Virginia’s Josh Harlan (1:52.82).