Villanova University

March 1, 2010

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - For the second time in as many weeks, freshman Hayley Edwards (Pilesgrove, N.J.) set a pool record in the 1650 yard freestyle at Trees Pool, then went on to be named the female Swimmer of the Meet at the ECAC Swimming & Diving Championships. Edwards won the 1650 free and the 200 butterfly and will now await possible selection to the NCAA Championships later this month.

In the 1650 free race early on Sunday evening, Edwards beat out a field of 12 swimmers in the 1650 free race by nearly a minute. Her winning time of 16:18.88 broke the previous ECAC meet record which had stood for more than 16 years. It also was just over 1.5 seconds faster than the previous pool record at Trees Pool, which Edwards herself set at the BIG EAST Championships just eight days previously. In lowering her time, she also improved her NCAA "B" qualifying standard.

Just one hour after winning the 1650 free, Edwards won her second race of the night. She raced in the 200 fly and finished first in a field of 36 entries. She had been the runner-up in the event at the BIG EAST Championships but posted a mark of 2:00.37 at the ECAC meet. Edwards touched the wall 1.95 seconds before a swimmer from Colgate finished in 2:02.32 to earn a runner-up finish.

Villanova received 20 team points for each of Edwards' race victories and finished with 40 team points in the final standings. Although Edwards was the only member of the Wildcats in competition at the ECAC meet, the team still finished in 18th place out of 24 teams with at least one representative at the competition.

The selections for the NCAA Championships will be announced on Wednesday evening. Edwards current best time in the 1650 free is low enough to have qualified for the national championship meet last season.