Jan. 2, 2005
RODNEY BAY, Saint Lucia – Freshman Caroline Johnson (Springfield, Mo./Glendale H.S.) won the 100-meter backstroke, and the 400 freestyle relay notched a victory, as the 21st-ranked University of Notre Dame women’s swimming team began the new year by finishing second in the Saint Lucia Invitational Sunday at the Rodney Heights Aquatic Centre. The Irish scored 170 points, while 13th-ranked Michigan took first with 209. The meet was part of Notre Dame’s winter training and competition trip to the Caribbean island.
The two rivals – who will see each other two more times this month (Jan. 14-15 at Notre Dame and Jan. 28 in Ann Arbor) – swam against members of the Rodney Heights Aquatics Club, who finished third with 53 points in the nine-event competition swum in short-course meters.
Johnson, who ranks 34th in Division I in the event, registered Notre Dame’s only individual victory by finishing the 100 back in 1:05.40 to defeat runner-up Kaitlyn Brady of Michigan, an NCAA qualifier last year. The mark converts to a yards time of 58.59, which is the eighth-quickest mark by an Irish swimmer in the event this season. Johnson is responsible for seven of those times.
In the 400 free relay, it was sophomores Katie Carroll (Toledo, Ohio/Notre Dame Academy), Rebecca Grove (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Yorktown H.S.), Ellen Johnson (Toledo, Ohio/Notre Dame Academy), and junior Christel Bouvron (Singapore, Singapore/Raffles Girls’ Secondary School) who triumphed, finishing in a time of 3:59.18 that was more than a second quicker than the Wolverines, who took 15th at last year’s NCAA Championships in the event. The Irish also finished third and fourth, with the team of senior Georgia Healey (New York, N.Y./Trinity School), sophomore Meghan Linnelli (Canfield, Ohio/Canfield H.S.), and freshmen Noémie Brand (Pointe-Claire, Québec/Phillips Exeter Academy [NH]) and Morgan Bullock (Stamford, Conn./Westhill H.S.) going 4:10.24 and the quartet of freshmen Katie Guida (Alexandria, Va./Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School) and Raine Paulson-Andrews (Montego Bay, Jamaica/Gulliver Preparatory School [FL]), senior Katie Eckholt (Omaha, Neb./Marian H.S.), and sophomore Krissy Archer (Chesapeake, Va./Hickory H.S.) finishing in 4:11.76.
Bouvron was the runner-up in the meet’s first event, the 100 butterfly, finishing in a time of 1:03.81. That converts to a mark of 57.17, which is the sixth-fastest time on the team in 2004-05. Sophomore Jessica Stephens (Bloomsburg, Pa./Bloomsburg H.S.) finished fifth in 1:06.43, but later registered her own second-place result, with a time of 2:27.34 in the 200 individual medley. Freshman Laura Stafford (George Town, Cayman Islands/Cayman Prep & H.S.) was fifth in 2:29.64.
The Irish finished second in each of the other two relays. In the 200 medley, Caroline Johnson, Healey, Bouvron, and Carroll took second in 2:00.88, while Michigan – the 10th-place finisher in the ’04 NCAAs in the race – was first. The meet ended with the “Coconut Relay,” a 500-meter race featuring 10 legs of 50 meters each that traditionally affords the winner a case of coconuts. Michigan topped the Irish, but Notre Dame took second (4:36.76) and third (4:46.65). The runner-up group consisted of Carroll, Grove, Eckholt, Ellen Johnson, senior Kristen Peterson (Wichita, Kan./Bishop Carroll H.S.), Paulson-Andrews, Healey, Guida, Caroline Johnson, and Bouvron.
Freshman Natalie Burke (Cape Town, South Africa/Reddam House College) led the Irish in the 100 breaststroke, finishing third in a time of 1:16.58. Healey ended up fourth in 1:17.67. In the 100 free, it was Carroll who led Notre Dame, taking fifth in 1:01.32, while Bullock was sixth in 1:01.61. Eckholt’s seventh-place finish in the 50 free in a time of 28.29 was tops for the Irish.
Notre Dame will return to action on Jan. 14-15 in its final home meet of the season. The Irish will play host to Illinois and Michigan, though they will only score against the Fighting Illini. The meet will use a three-session, championship-style format and will begin on Friday at 7 p.m. (EST) before having sessions at 10:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday. Diving action will start at 4 p.m. on the second day.