MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University swimming and diving teams traveled to Villanova and broke nine pool records, as the men earned a road dual-meet victory at the Villanova Swim Complex on Saturday.
 
Competing for the third consecutive weekend to open the season, the men beat Villanova, 236-64, while the women were edged by the Wildcats, 154-146. The men broke five pool records, and the women set four.
 
Sophomore David Dixon led the way for the Mountaineers with three individual wins, two in pool-record time, and a relay victory. Junior Morgan Bullock also won three individual races, two coming in pool-record fashion.
 
In all, seven swimmers and divers finished the day with multiple individual victories.
 
"I'm really proud of the women's team today; though we came up short of the score, they swam and dove very well and fought to the very last event," WVU coach Vic Riggs said. "It was a tough loss, but it's definitely something we can build off. We had so many people step up in their events today. For the men, it was a very solid performance. Both teams broke some pool records, and our racing continues to improve."
 
Along with Dixon and Bullock, redshirt senior Tristen Di Sibio and Julia Nilton earned pool-record performances in individual events on Saturday.
 
Additionally, three Mountaineer relay teams, including the women's 200 medley relay, comprised of sophomore Ally VanNetta, senior Emma Harris, Nilton and sophomore Giselle Gursoy, set Villanova Swim Complex records. The men's 200 medley relay (sophomore Angelo Russo, Di Sibio, Dixon and senior Merwane El Merini) and men's 400 freestyle relay (El Merini, senior Drew Damich, sophomore Max Gustafson and junior Sam Neaveill) also recorded pool records.
 
The meet commenced on springboard, where the Mountaineers finished first and second in all four events. Seniors Julia Calcut and Averly Hobbs finished 1-2 on both 1- and 3-meter for the women, while freshman Nick Cover and redshirt freshman Jacob Cardinal Tremblay did the same for the men. WVU's strong showing included a 1-2-3-4 finish on men's 1-meter and a 1-2-3 finish on women's 3-meter.
 
Calcut won with a 274.87 on 1-meter, and a 298.27 on 3-meter, while Cover earned victories on 1-meter, with a 293.77, and on 3-meter, with a 344.03.
 
"I'm very pleased with all of the divers today," diving coach Michael Grapner said. "It was a determined effort for the men and women, and our results show it. Nick Cover was in his element today; he was consistent on both boards, and he accomplished his Zones score on 3-meter. Julia Calcut did awesome today, as well, and she also achieved her Zones score on 3-meter. I'm looking forward to training the next few weeks to prepare for the invite at Navy."
 
Competition in the pool began with a pair of Villanova Swim Complex records by the Mountaineers in the 200 medley relays. VanNetta, Harris, Nilton and Gursoy touched the wall in 1:44.10 to win the women's event, while Russo, Di Sibio, Dixon and El Merini won for the WVU men in 1:29.21.
 
Freshman Tom Hubbard followed with a win in the men's 1,000 freestyle, with a 9:52.70, to lead a 1-2-3 finish for the West Virginia men. Freshman Lauryn Kallay led the women to place second, in 10:18.41.
 
In the next event, Kallay followed up with a win in the women's 200 freestyle. She won by 0.23 seconds, with a time of 1:52.10. The men again claimed the top-three places, led by Gustafson's 1:41.05 to win by nearly a second.
 
Russo earned his first individual victory with a 49.81 to pace the Mountaineer men in the 100 backstroke. VanNetta's 58.05 led the women with a second-place finish.
 
West Virginia swept the 100 breaststroke, highlighted by Di Sibio's pool-record time of 56.19. He edged teammate freshman Fausto Huerta by 0.01 seconds, as WVU claimed the top-five times in the event. For the women, Harris' 1:03.73 gave the senior her second win of the day and first individual victory.
 
Dixon and Bullock both earned their first wins of the day in the 200 butterfly. Dixon's time of 1:44.61 was a pool record and led a 1-2-3-4 finish for the men, while Bullock's 2:00.65 gave her the win by nearly four seconds.
 
The Mountaineers set a pool record in a third consecutive event thanks to Nilton in the women's 50 freestyle, as a 23.45 gave her the win by 0.30 seconds. For the men, El Merini placed second, with a 21.00.
 
Damich led the Mountaineer men to a 1-2-3 finish in the 100 freestyle, thanks to a time of 45.80.
 
Later, WVU finished second in both 200 backstroke events. Junior Alex Pampalone (2:03.78) led the women, and freshman Josh Harlan (1:52.82) paced the men.
 
Harris earned her second individual win of the day with a 2:17.75 in the women's 200 breaststroke. For the men, Dixon picked up his second individual win, touching the wall in 2:03.16, as the Mountaineers claimed the top-five times.
 
The men continued their strong showing in the 500 freestyle, as Gustafson's 4:41.44 was his second win of the day and led West Virginia to a 1-2-3-4 finish. Kallay's 5:02.19 was good for second place and led the WVU women in the event.
 
Bullock earned a pool record in the 100 butterfly, as she won by more than a second, with a 55.58. Russo followed it up with another win for the men, as his 50.35 led the Mountaineers to a 1-2-3 finish, with junior Jack Frazier and sophomore Denys Kostromin each finishing within a second of Russo.
 
West Virginia finished individual events with a bang, sweeping the 200 individual medleys, both with pool-record times. Bullock (2:03.01) led the women, while Dixon (1:48.05) paced the men, who finished first, second and third in the event.
 
Competition concluded with the 400 freestyle relay, where the men picked up another pool record and a 1-2 finish. El Merini, Damich, Gustafson and Neaveill won by more than six seconds, with a 3:02.89. The women placed second with a time of 3:26.95.
 
Saturday marked the fifth consecutive year the Mountaineers have competed against Villanova. With the victory, the men's team remained undefeated on the season by improving to 3-0, while the women fell to 2-1.
 
Up next, the Mountaineer swimmers travel to the Ohio State Invitational, in Columbus, Ohio, while the divers compete at the Navy Diving Invitational, in Annapolis, Maryland, from Nov. 15-17.
 
For more information on the Mountaineers, visit WVUsports.com and follow WVUSwimDive on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.