West Virginia Men, Notre Dame Women Win Big East Titles

EAST MEADOW, New York, February 17. THE West Virginia men's swimming and diving team earned its first BIG EAST Championship in school history in the final event – the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay. Down by 3.5 points to two-time defending champion Notre Dame, the WVU relay team took first place to capture the title. The Notre Dame women won its 11th straight BIG EAST title, beating second place Rutgers.

The top three finishers in the men's 400 freestyle relay were separated by tenths of a second as the Mountaineers came in at 2:56.21, just .34 seconds in front of Louisville. The Irish finished .4 seconds behind the Cardinals, who touched the wall at 2:59.59.

The Mountaineers finished first in the league with a score of 765.50 to earn their first BIG EAST Championship in school history. Just 4.50 points behind, the Fighting Irish placed second, snapping its streak. Louisville finished third with 427.50 points.

The women of Notre Dame won with a score of 758. Rutgers placed second with 530, and West Virginia rounded out the top-three with 517 points.

West Virginia's Zoltan Povazsai earned the BIG EAST Men's Most Outstanding Swimmer Award, while Katie Carroll of Notre Dame earned the Women's Most Outstanding Award.

Mountaineer Head Coach Sergio Lopez earned his second Men's BIG EAST Swimming Coach of the Year Award; Notre Dame Head Coach Carrie Nixon earned Women's BIG EAST Swimming Coach of the Year.

Syracuse's Alida Di Placido was crowned the BIG EAST Most Outstanding Diver, while Jeremy Stultz of Pittsburgh earned the title for the second consecutive year.

The BIG EAST Women's Diving Coach of the Year award belonged to Jeff Keck of Syracuse. Caiming Xie of Notre Dame claimed the Men's Diving Coach of the Year award.

The 1650 Yard Freestyle was the first event of the evening as Jenny Somerville swam the 66 laps at a time of 16:30.85, earning Villanova 20 points. Kim Case of Rutgers placed second, hitting the wall at 16:37.63, followed by Lindsey Largo of West Virginia, who finished with a time of 16:37.63.

Justin Galbreath earned the men's title, finishing with a time of 15:28.39. Notre Dame rounded out the final three with Jay Vanden Berg (15:34.83) and Rob Seery (15:34.89) earning second and third place finishes.

Andrea Shoust of Pittsburgh earned the conference crown in the 200 Yard Backstroke with a time of 1:58.99. Morgan Callaway of West Virginia hit the wall second (1:59.64), followed by Catherine Whetstone of Rutgers (2:01.56).

Jeff Leath of Pittsburgh matched his counterpart with a mark of 1:45.89 and earned the league's crown. West Virginia's Zoltan Povazsai placed second (1:46.54), followed closely by Cincinnati's Bjorn Mates just .34 seconds later, hitting the way of 1:46.88.

West Virginia's Kayla Andrew earned the 100 Yard Freestyle crown and broke a BIG EAST record with a time of 49.02. The previous record, 49.11, was set in 2002 by M. Van Rooijen of Miami. Twelve-tenths behind Andrews, Madison Kennedy of Rutgers hit the wall at 49.14, followed by Kristin Brown of Pittsburgh, with a time of 50.46, earning her third place.

Nick Delic, also of West Virginia, earned the first place men's crown with a time of 44.03. Teammate Andrew Langenfeld finished just .13 seconds behind at 44.16 followed by Cincinnati's Marcel Kleiner at third with a time of 44.94.

The Notre Dame women earned its first crown of the night when Julia Quinn earned the time of 2:14.41 in the 200 Yard Breaststroke. In second place was Rutgers' Shayna Longacre (2:16.29) followed by Louisville's Heather Meng (2:16.42).

Louisville captured the men's crown as Vali Preda hit the wall at 1:57.02, followed closely by Sean Mahoney of West Virginia just .23 seconds later at 1:57.75. Earning the time of 1:58.70 was Mountaineer Kevin Donohue, who placed third.

The 200 Yard Butterfly championship crown belonged to Villanova's Kristina Lennox who finished at the 2:00.49 mark, .38 seconds before Notre Dame's Katie Carroll (2:00.87). Pittsburgh's Agnes Mago placed third as she earned a time of 2:01.81.

West Virginia's Pablo Marmolejo earned the men's title, breaking the BIG EAST record of 1:45.52 when he touched the wall at 1:44.94. Adam Madarassy of Louisville placed second (1:46.91) followed by teammate Rafal Kuchta (1:47.96), who placed third.

Syracuse's Alida Di Placido earned the Women's 3-Meter Diving title with 306.25 points. Connecticut's Liza Marianni placed second with 278.35 points followed by Notre Dame's Tara Hyer with a score of 247.80.

Rutgers's relay team of Madison Kennedy, Ashley Dunphy, Catherine Whetstone and Sarah Bicknell earned the women's 400 Yard Freestyle Relay title with a time of 3:20.34 while breaking the Scarlet Knights' and BIG EAST record of 3:20.48. West Virginia placed second, clocking in at 3:21.00 followed by Notre Dame, who finished at 3:22.17.

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