NOTRE DAME, Indiana — The No. 17 Irish men’s swim team boasts four qualifying student-athletes, in addition to a relay, to the NCAA Championships March 24-27 in Greensboro, North Carolina, their selections announced by the NCAA on Wednesday.
Junior Josh Bottelberghe, freshman Tyler Christianson, sophomore Jack Hoagland and junior Zachary Smith will represent the Irish at the national meet. Qualifying outright with seven times, the Irish are eligible for 11 individual swims. In addition, the Irish 800 Free Relay was selected for the championships, and the team of Hoagland, senior Sadler McKeen, sophomore Cason Wilburn and sophomore Alec DeLong will represent Notre Dame in the event.
“We’ve got a good, solid group, and I’m looking forward to see what they can do,” head swim coach Mike Litzinger said. ” I think it’s an example for the rest of the team that we’re that close to getting a really big team [to the meet], and they can use that as inspiration.
“That’s one of our one of our program goals is to celebrate everybody else’s achievements, but also let that inspire you to bigger, better things. So, I’m hoping that it resonates with the rest of the team.”
Bottelberghe (2019, 2020), Hoagland (2020) and Smith (2020) have all previously been selected to the NCAA Championships, but because the 2020 championships were cancelled due to COVID-19, Bottelberghe is the only 2021 Irish individual selection to have previously competed at the meet.
Christianson, in his true freshman season, has qualified for his first-career NCAA Championships.
Swimmer: Qualifying Event (Qualifying Time)
- Bottelberghe: 100 Breast (52.31) and 200 Breast (1:52.87)
- Christianson: 400 IM (3:44.49)
- Hoagland: 500 Free (4:11.26), 400 IM (3:40.99) and 1650 Free (14:31.83)
- Smith: 200 Fly (1:42.57)
- Relay: 800 Free Relay (6:19.07): Hoagland, McKeen, Wilburn and DeLong
Bottelberghe is a three-time qualifier for the national meet, and after a breakout sophomore season, has continued his success by breaking the program 200 Breast record at the ACC Championships and turning in a 100 Breast swim at the conference championships that was just .06 seconds off the Irish record. Along with those events, he will also swim the 200 IM (1:46.41).
Christianson posted a 3:44.49 in the 400 IM at the ACC Championships, placing ninth in finals and first in the B Final, which was the sixth-best time of all performances in finals. His time ranks him as the fourth all-time performer in the event in Notre Dame records. He will also compete in the 200 Breast (1:54.32) and the 200 IM (1:45.09).
The 2021 ACC Most Valuable Swimmer, Hoagland claimed gold in all three of his events at the conference championships, a feat which was reached in the ACC most recently in 2018. The MVP honor was the first in the ACC by an Irish male swimmer, as he joined former Notre Dame women’s swimmer Emma Reaney in 2014.
Smith rounds out the individual Irish selections with a 1:42.57 in the 200 Fly, achieved in a time trial at the ACC Championships. At the time, it was the ninth-best time in the NCAA, and improved his time as the second-fastest performer in program history in the event. He will also compete in the 100 Fly (46.84).
In the relay, Hoagland will join senior McKeen and sophomores Wilburn and DeLong. McKeen qualified for the NCAA Championships on his own in 2020, while both McKeen and Wilburn were on the 2020 qualifying 800 Free Relay for the Irish. DeLong is a newcomer to the championships, after turning in a 1:34.95 to skyrocket to fifth all-time among Irish performers in the event last week.
Up Next
The women’s team will compete in the NCAA Championships first from March 17-20. Senior diver Kelly Straub and swimmers freshman Megan Deuel, junior Sammie Eyolfson, sophomore Coleen Gillilan, junior Madeline LaPorte, junior Bayley Stewart and junior Luciana Thomas will compete for Notre Dame.