It was déjà vu on the second day of the 2017 BIG EAST Swimming & Diving Championships presented by Jeep as the meet saw repeat winners in the 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard freestyle and 200-yard IM.
The Villanova women currently lead the pack with 369 points followed by Georgetown with 246. The Musketeers are in third with 186 points and Seton Hall, Providence and Butler currently sit in fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.
On the men’s side, Seton Hall paces the competition at 267 points with Georgetown in second with 267 points, while Villanova stands in third place with 224.
In the women’s 500-free, Villanova’s Emily Mayo repeated as the event’s BIG EAST Champion for a third-consecutive year. The senior touched the wall in 4:44.91, registering a NCAA B-stand qualifying time. Mayo was followed by teammates Caitlin Daday (4:51.75) and Mary Snyder (4:52.27) in second and third place, respectively.
The Hall took the top two spots in the event with Noah Yanchulis (4:23.94) snagging a repeat title and Vadim Jacobson (4:24.33) claiming second. Both Pirates set NCAA B-standard qualifying times in the event.
In the women’s one-meter diving final, Villanova’s Bridie Dunn took gold behind a finals score of 534.40. Georgetown’s Meg Barnhorst secured second with a final score of 513.80.
The 200-IM saw repeat winners in both the women’s and men’s race as Villanova’s Darby Goldwin and Seton Hall’s Lior Grubert picked up the event’s titles for a second consecutive year. Goodwin broke her own school record and took the top spot in the women’s 200-yard IM with a NCAA “B” cut time of 1:59.42. Grubert touched the wall in 1:49.36.
Maintaining their momentum, the Wildcats and the Pirates also claimed gold in the 50-yard freestyle. For the women, Villanova’s Alexandra Fabbri and Taylor Wilson took first and second with NCAA “B” cut performances of 22.70 and 23.01, respectively, while on the men’s side, Seton Hall’s Dakota Williams earned the top spot with a mark of 20.39.
The night’s last event saw Villanova dominance as the Wildcats put up gold-medal finishes in both the men’s and women’s 200-yard freestyle relay. On the men’s side, John Hoin swam the first leg on the winning relay squad, followed by Tyler Nussbaum, Christopher Paynter and Stephen Krecsmar. In the women’s event, Villanova picked up a repeat win in 1:30.53 Fabbri in the lead leg followed by Goodwin, Jessica Randolph and Taylor Wilson in the anchor position.
Friday's competition will start at 10 a.m. with the preliminaries of the 400-IM, 100-Fly, 200-Freestyle, 100-Breaststroke, 100-Backstroke, 400-medley relay and one-meter diving for the men. The evening session will begin at 6 p.m. and will feature the finals of Friday morning's events.
Watch all the action for the rest of Championships live on the BIG EAST Digital Network (BEDN) on FOX Sports Go, with wall-to-wall coverage that includes all event preliminaries, finals and awards.
For schedules, updates, live results and live coverage links please visit the BIG EAST Swimming &Diving Championship Central Page on BIGEAST.com.
Team Rankings - After Day 2
Women
1. Villanova (369)
2. Georgetown (246)
3. Xavier (186)
4. Seton Hall (141)
5. Providence (123)
6. Butler (62)
Men
1. Seton Hall (292)
2. Georgetown (267)
3. Villanova (224)
