Senior captain Matt Bertke began his final collegiate meet by leading off the record-setting 800 free relay with a career-best time of 1:40.14 for his 200-yard leg, establishing him as the fourth-fastest Irish swimmer ever in the 200 free.

#22 Irish Open BIG EAST Championships With Two University Records In As Many Races

Feb. 16, 2005

Results

EAST MEADOW, N.Y. – It was two races and two University records for the 22nd-ranked University of Notre Dame men’s swimming and diving team Wednesday evening on the opening night of the BIG EAST Championships at the Nassau County Aquatic Center. The Irish broke records in both the 800-yard freestyle relay and the 200 medley relay and stand in second place after three of 20 events, with 97 points. Pittsburgh, winners of the last eight league championships, holds the early team lead with 141 points.

The BIG EAST Championships debuted a new format on Wednesday, adding a fourth day to the meet, one which consisted of two men’s and two women’s relays, as well as a men’s diving event. The highlight was the night’s final event, the 200 medley relay, which saw juniors Doug Bauman (Erie, Pa./Cathedral Preparatory School) and Tim Randolph (Crown Point, Ind./Merrillville H.S.), sophomore Tim Kegelman (Yorktown, Va./Tabb H.S.), and senior Frank Krakowski (Erie, Pa./Cathedral Preparatory School) finish second with a time of 1:30.12 that was better than the previous program-best mark of 1:30.48 set by the same quartet in last year’s BIG EAST meet. West Virginia took first in the race, but the Irish were the runners-up after being fourth last year in the race, and Pittsburgh came in third. Notre Dame matched its best-ever finish in the race, as the team of Brian Skorney, Mike Koss, Brendan Lechner, and Ray Fitzpatrick were second in 2000. This year’s Irish time had been bettered or tied by just 18 schools in Division I prior to this week.

Each member of the 200 medley quartet earned all-BIG EAST honors for the performance. Kegelman and Bauman are now three-time selections, becoming just the eighth and ninth Notre Dame student-athletes to accomplish that. Randolph and Krakowski both earned their second all-conference accolades.

The first swimming race of the meet saw the Irish group of senior captain Matt Bertke (Edgewood, Ky./Covington Catholic H.S.) and sophomores Ted Brown (Kokomo, Ind./Western H.S.) and Brian Freeman (Sanger, Calif./Immanuel H.S.), and Louis Cavadini (South Bend, Ind./Riley H.S.) break the 800 free relay University record by nearly two seconds, finishing fourth with a time of 6:40.79. Rutgers won the race, while Syracuse was second, Connecticut just outtouched the Irish for third, and defending-champion Pittsburgh ended up fifth. The previous Irish record of 6:42.55 was set at last year’s conference meet by current volunteer assistant coach Matt Obringer, Freeman, Bertke, and Brown. In the first swim of his final BIG EAST meet, Notre Dame’s captain led off the race by turning in a career-best time of 1:40.14 in his 200-yard leg, establishing him as the fifth-fastest Irish swimmer ever in the race.

The increased depth in Notre Dame’s diving corps this season paid dividends in the only individual event of the session, one-meter springboard diving, as four Irish student-athletes scored points. Freshman Sam Stoner (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso H.S.) led the way, qualifying fifth with a prelims score of 269.35. He started quickly in the finals, placing third after the first round, but he eventually slipped to fourth and then was edged out on the final dive to take fifth. Notre Dame just missed qualifying two others for the finals, as sophomore Scott Coyle (Indianapolis, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern H.S.) finished ninth with 245.60 points, and freshman Chris Kane (San Antonio, Texas/Ronald Reagan H.S.) was right behind in 10th with 240.40. Another rookie, Steven Crowe (Brockport, N.Y./Brockport H.S.), ended up 14th with 223.80 points.

The BIG EAST Championships will continue on Thursday, with four more events: 500 free, 200 IM, 50 free, and 200 freestyle relay (evening only). The preliminaries will begin at 10:30 a.m. (EST), and the finals will commence at 6 p.m.