MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – The second day of the WVU Invitational saw 13 Wildcats compete in A-Finals in both swimming and diving events with the group maintaining their second-place spot Friday at the Aquatic Center at Mylan Park.

Of those competing in top-tier finals, five reset personal bests on Friday to help the Wildcats move their team score through two days to 1416.5. When combining the men’s and women’s scores for a team total, Villanova sits second at 2097.5.

The Wildcats sent a team-high three swimmers to the 400 IM A-Finals with Nolan Danus (Morris Plains, N.J.) leading the Villanova crew with a 3:57.93 swim that was good enough for second-place, nearly besting his top mark of 3:57.29 that he set at the 2021 BIG EAST Championships. His second-place finish was the highest finish for the team on the day. Richard Nolan (Wilton, Conn.) and Henry Halloran (Brookhaven, Ga.) finished at fifth (4:00.39) and sixth (4:02.41), respectively.

Reid Hutcherson (Richmond, Va.) was edged out of a top-three showing in the 200 Free, finishing fourth with a 1:40.55 time. Charlie Hinckley (New York, N.Y.) reset his personal best swim in the event in both the prelims and final, grabbing a sixth-place finish (1:41.54) in the nightcap.

Two Wildcats made it to the 100 Breast A-Finals, led by Andrew Mitchill (Killingworth, Conn.) in fifth with a new personal best (57.46) followed by Halloran in seventh (58.59).
Another new personal best was set in the 100 Backstroke with Ethan Brown (West Hartford, Conn.) swimming a 49.82 that was good enough for third.

Jesse Marsh (Kingston, Jamaica) was the highest-finishing Wildcat in the 100 Fly, tying for 10th at 50:39.

In relay action, Mitchill, McIntyre, Hinckley and Hutcherson earned a third-place showing with a 6:49.18 time. The unit of Brown, Mitchill, Marsh and Hemingway landed at sixth in the 200 Medley with a 1:32.23 showing.

Michael Ackert (Rye, N.Y.) and Nicholas Jubilee (Painted Post, N.Y.) both advanced to the finals of the 3-meter dives, landing at fifth (265.35) and seventh (256.45), respectively, in prelims. In the finals, the pair reset their personal bests with Ackert tying for fifth (298.90) and Jubilee taking seventh (292.80). After missing out on the evening finals with a 10th place dive in the prelims, Noah Clipman (Mohnton, Pa.) took first in the consolation finals (246.35).

Villanova heads into the final day behind the hosting Mountaineers with a 1416.5 team score. William and Mary sits at third with a 771.5 score.

The event wraps up on Saturday with events starting at 10 a.m. Live results will once again be available via WVUsports.com/swimresults and Meet Mobile. Diving results can be found on DiveMeets.com.