Men’s swimming wins second straight title

The Musketeers are champions once again.

The men’s swimming team captured their second straight Big East Conference title last weekend, edging second-place Georgetown by 73.5 points. It was the fifth time the team won the championship in the last seven seasons.

Additionally, the women’s team brought home a third-place finish at the meet, falling short of champion Villanova by 228 points.

Both teams placed high in the meet despite Xavier having no divers to compete in the diving events. The freestyle events were particularly strong suits for the Musketeers.

At the end of the first day of events on Wednesday, both teams sat in fourth place. However, by the end of Thursday, after a strong outing in the 50 yard freestyle and the 200 yard freestyle relay, the men’s team was tied for the lead with the Wildcats.

Xavier got off to a commanding lead in the meet after both the 100 yard butterfly and 200 yard freestyle saw Xavier claim three out of the top four spots in the 100 yard butterfly with Xavier tying for first in the 200 yard freestyle relay.

The top performers of conference championship for the men’s side included freshman Andrew Martin, senior Landon Clark and freshman Jon Bernard.

Martin scored the most individual points for the Musketeers, and set the tone on the final day of the competition with his record-setting 1650 yard freestyle. After a 24.77 second opening split, he settled into his pace and held consistent 28 second splits throughout the event and finished with a time of 15:20.03. Martin also set records in the 200 and 500 yard freestyle events.

Meanwhile, Clark set the new Xavier record for the 200 yard butterfly with a time of 1:48.30 and Bernard set the record for the 200 yard breaststroke in 1:59.70.

The top performers leading the women to their third place finish in the meet were junior Taylor Hogan, who won the conference championship in the 200 yard butterfly, and the 400 yard freestyle relay team of freshman Erin Merke and seniors Emily Saugstad, Abigail Gardner and Emily Conners. The team tied with Villanova for first with a time of 3:21.62.

In addition, Xavier swimming coach Brent MacDonald and his assistants were named the Big East Men’s Coaching Staff of the Year after leading their team to the dominant victory.