After three full days of competition at the Patriot Invitational, the Georgetown women’s swimming and diving team finished seventh out of 10 teams, while the men returned to the Hilltop with an eighth-place finish in the same field.

In a preseason interview, Georgetown Head Coach Bethany Bower said the team hoped to qualify over 80 percent of its members for the Big East championships. Now – just over midway through the season – 18 of the 37 swimmers have qualified for the Big East championships in 47 different events. Last year, 20 Hoyas competed in the Big East championships, in 44 events.

Freshmen turned in most of the highlights in the women’s meet. The Hoyas’ best finish came from freshman Lindsay Vickroy, who swam to a third-place finish in the 200-yard freestyle event, while freshman Laura Stark broke the school record for the 200-yd individual medley, set by junior Caitlin Colling in 2005, with a time of 2:07.87. Stark’s time was just over a 10th of a second faster than Colling’s mark of 2:08.01.

UMBC came out on top in the women’s pool, followed by Duke, North Carolina, George Mason, Seton Hall and Shippensburg. Georgetown beat out cross-town rivals American, George Washington and Howard.

The Retrievers of UMBC also won the men’s meet, followed by the Tar Heels, the Blue Devils, the Pirates, Shippensburg, the Colonials and the Patriots. The Hoyas bested American and Howard.

No Georgetown swimmer qualified for the Big East Championships on days one and three of the event, but on the second day of competition, seven Hoyas – five men and two women – qualified.

Vickroy qualified in the 50-yd freestyle, and junior Tori Maffey and freshman James LiVolsi qualified in women’s and men’s 100-yd backstroke, as each swam the leadoff of the 400-yd medley relay. Freshman Brian Koh qualified in the 200-yd individual medley and the 500-yd freestyle, while sophomore co-captain Daniel Robinson qualified in the 200-yd individual medley and freshmen Eric Mooney and Wes Going did so in the 50-yd freestyle.

The Hoyas next opponent comes from the Big East, as they take on Villanova on Saturday, Dec. 2. Georgetown is 0-1 in the conference, with one loss to Seton Hall earlier this season. The meet is slated for 2 p.m.