Nov. 17, 2017
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The weekend goal for the University of Notre Dame men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams was to perform at a high level against talented opposition at the Ohio State Fall Open Invitational. Some 16 NCAA B-cut times and one program record highlighted the opening wave of competition for the Irish on Friday at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.
After one day of competition, the No. 13 Notre Dame men’s team sits in third place with 220.50 points, trailing only No. 16 Ohio State (232.50 points) and No. 5 NC State (342 points) in the nine-team field. The No. 18 Irish women’s squad posted 185 points on the day to place fourth out of 13 teams, with No. 23 Ohio State leading the way with 206 points.
The highlight performance of the night for Notre Dame came from men’s freshman freestyle swimmer Zach Yeadon. In the `A’ final of the 500 freestyle in which NC State established a McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion record, Yeadon made Irish history by clocking a third-place swim of 4:14.93 in the top finals heat. Yeadon’s effort broke the Irish program mark of 4:17.13 established by multi-time All-American Frank Dyer in 2014.
Notre Dame resumes action at the Ohio State Fall Open Invitational on Saturday. Preliminary heats are slated to begin at 10 a.m. (ET), with finals to follow at 6 p.m. inside the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.
Coach Litzinger Said
“Zach Yeadon had a fantastic performance tonight against some very well-seasoned swimmers in the 500 free. His Notre Dame record swim was also a personal-best by four seconds.”
“I am proud of Lindsay Stone and Molly Treble and their efforts. Distance training and racing takes great concentration, and to perform at this high of a level midseason is a great sign for the future.”
“On the men’s side, Justin Plaschka and Dan Speers were key in our sprints tonight. Not only did they put up some outstanding swims individually, they were able to contribute to our 200 free relay that finished with a very quick time for this point.”
“Overall, I really like what I am seeing from our group. The goal is simply to improve on our performances thus far, and we are doing that. We have a great day and event schedule tomorrow, and I am looking forward to seeing what we can do with those opportunities.”
Top Irish Performances
Women’s 200 Free Relay Finals – The Notre Dame `A’ entry of Abbie Dolan, Sofia Revilak, Kelly Jacob and Rachel Wittmer placed third with a time of 1:30.33, the fastest competitive Irish time in the event this season. The `B’ Irish squad featuring Katie Smith, Carly Quast, Lauren Heller and Nicole Smith claimed sixth in 1:31.50.
Men’s 200 Free Relay Finals – The Notre Dame `A’ entry of Justin Plaschka, Daniel Speers, Aaron Schultz and Tabahn Afrik narrowly missed an NCAA qualifying standard, swimming to a runner-up finish in 1:18.59.
Women’s 500 Freestyle Finals – Lindsay Stone logged her fastest time of the season in the 500 free, clocking an NCAA B-cut time of 4:45.10 to place sixth overall. Molly Treble added a B-cut of her own in 4:45.18 for her fastest swim of the year and seventh place. The efforts of Stone and Treble were the second and third-fastest times in the event in program history.
Men’s 500 Freestyle Finals – Zach Yeadon bowled over the previous Notre Dame record in the distance set in 2014 by multi-time All-American Frank Dyer, finishing third in a competitive `A’ final with an all-time Irish best and NCAA B-cut time of 4:14.93. Richard Mannix placed 11th overall with an NCAA B-cut of his own in 4:23.42. Sadler McKeen rounded out the Notre Dame B-cuts with a 4:24.13 finals swim and 12th place.
Women’s 200 IM Finals – Erin Sheehan finished in 17th to pace all Notre Dame swimmers in the distance with a time of 2:01.66. Sheehan actually swam an NCAA B-cut time of 2:01.49 during her prelim heat earlier in the day. Kyra Sarazen (23rd, 2:01.99) and Nicole Smith (24th, 2:02.03) added season-best swims in finals competition.
Men’s 200 IM Finals – Aaron Schultz led all Notre Dame swimmers with a finals time of 1:46.71 for an NCAA B-cut and seventh place. Will Cumberland (eighth, 1:47.49), Nick Milikich (ninth, 1:47.76) and Rob Whitacre (10th, 1:47.95) all added B-cut swims in the finals after posting prelim times of 1:47.07, 1:46.94 and 1:47.57, respectively.
Women’s 50 Freestyle Finals – Sofia Revilak paced all Notre Dame entrants in 10th place with an `A’ final swim of 23.10. Revilak registered an NCAA B-cut of 22.78 during the preliminary round earlier in the day. Kelly Jacob finished 12th overall after an NCAA B-cut of 22.89 in her finals heat, while Carly Quast (13th, 22.90) and Rachel Wittmer (14th, 22.99) also added B-cut times.
Men’s 50 Freestyle Finals – Justin Plaschka tied for second place with his fastest competitive time of the season, an NCAA B-cut readout of 19.60. Daniel Speers placed fourth with a B-cut effort of 19.66.
Women’s 400 Medley Relay – The Notre Dame `A’ entry of Alice Treuth, Meaghan O’Donnell, Erin Sheehan and Abbie Dolan placed third with a time of 3:35.46.
Men’s 400 Medley Relay – The Notre Dame `A’ entry of Rob Whitacre, Garrett Clarke, Justin Plaschka and Tabahn Afrik posted a competitive season-best 3:14.01 to place fifth.
Men’s 1-Meter Diving – Joe Coumos posted a runner-up score of 381.25 points representing Notre Dame. It was a season-high score for Coumos off the 1-meter board.
Women’s 3-Meter Diving – Kelly Straub was the top Notre Dame finisher, placing eighth in the finals with 277.55 points.
–ND–