Jan. 28, 2005
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Senior All-America diver Meghan Perry-Eaton (Brandon, Fla./Bloomingdale H.S.) broke her own school record for one-meter dual-meet diving and sophomore Katie Carroll (Toledo, Ohio/Notre Dame Academy), the defending BIG EAST champion and an honorable mention All-America selection in the event, posted an NCAA “B” cut in the 200-yard individual medley, but the 25th-ranked University of Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving team (5-3) lost 161-138 against #17 Michigan (4-2) Friday evening in the Canham Natatorium. The Irish won seven events – including two each from Perry-Eaton and junior Olympian Christel Bouvron (Singapore, Singapore/Raffles Girls’ Secondary School) – but could not avoid losing to a nationally-ranked team for the third time this season.
Perry-Eaton, the BIG EAST Championships Most Outstanding Diver in both 2003 and ’04, continued her near-perfect campaign by winning both springboard diving events, and she broke her own record off the one-meter board by nearly six points, finishing first with a score of 328.43 that was nearly 15 points better than runner-up Alexis Goolik. Her previous mark was 322.64, and it also came against the Wolverines, on Feb. 1, 2003. She now holds six of the top nine one-meter scores in dual-meet action in Irish history. Perry-Eaton followed that up with a five-point victory off the three-meter board with a score of 305.85. She has now won 17 of the 18 competitions she has entered this season, including a 9-0 record in three-meter diving. Perry-Eaton has been victorious off the higher board in 21 consecutive dual meets, dating back to November of 2002.
Carroll, who finished ninth in the 200 IM at the 2004 NCAA Championships but missed much of the first semester of this season with injuries, swam the race for just the second time this season and finished first by more than three seconds with a time of 2:03.75. It is easily the fastest time by a BIG EAST Conference swimmer this season, as her mark of 2:04.72 from earlier this month had previously held that distinction. The time also ranks her tied for 59th among Division I competitors this season. Carroll, who holds the Notre Dame record (1:58.52) in the 200 IM, notched a B cut in the 400 IM in the first meet of the season, meaning that if she will be considered for a berth to the NCAA Championships in both of those events. Once invited to the national meet, swimmers can compete in any event in which they have at least a B cut (up to three individual events). Sophomore Jessica Stephens (Bloomsburg, Pa./Bloomsburg H.S.) took second in the race with a time of 2:11.89.
Bouvron just missed an NCAA “B” standard of her own, as she dominated the field by nearly five seconds in the 200 butterfly, finishing with a time of 2:01.95 that was just off the cut of 2:01.65. She registered a collegiate-best time in the event that saw her take 32nd in the Athens Olympics last summer. It is by far the fastest in the BIG EAST this season (as was her previous career best, a 2:02.22 in December’s Georgia Fall Invitational), and it has her ranked 44th in Division I. Finishing second in the race was Irish senior Brooke Taylor (Orlando, Fla./Lake Highland Preparatory School) with a time of 2:06.92. Bouvron also won the 100 butterfly with a time of 56.23, while Carroll, the defending BIG EAST champion, was second with a season-best time of 56.44 that ranks fifth in the league in 2004-05.
Stephens gained a victory of her own in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:21.38. Senior co-captain Georgia Healey (New York, N.Y./Trinity School) ended up third with a time of 2:25.06. The 100 breast saw Stephens finish as the runner-up with a time of 1:05.91, while freshman Natalie Burke (Cape Town, South Africa/Reddam House College) was fourth in 1:07.57 and junior Courtney Choura (Bridgeville, Pa./Oakland Catholic H.S.) was right behind with a time of 1:07.70.
In the final event of the meet, Notre Dame’s quartet of sophomores Rebecca Grove (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Yorktown H.S.) and Ellen Johnson (Toledo, Ohio/Notre Dame Academy), freshman Caroline Johnson (Springfield, Mo./Glendale H.S.), and Carroll scored first-place points with a time of 3:30.72. The Irish also got points from Bouvron, freshman Katie Guida (Alexandria, Va./Georgetown Visitation Prep School), senior Katie Eckholt (Omaha, Neb./Marian H.S.), and rookie Kayla Graham (Dartmouth, Nova Scotia/Auburn Drive H.S.), who finished in 3:37.53.
The Irish led off the meet with a season-best time in the 400 medley relay. Caroline Johnson, Stephens, Bouvron, and Grove combined to take second place with a time of 3:49.34.
Carroll also finished second in the 100 free, notching a time of 52.30. Graham, who turned in the top meet of her young collegiate career with season-bests in all three of her individual races, took fifth in the race in 54.02.
Caroline Johnson led the Irish in the 100 back, but finished second with a time of 57.54, while Grove was fourth in 59.04 and senior Kristen Peterson (Wichtia, Kan./Bishop Carroll H.S.) ended up fifth in 1:01.44.
In the 1,650 freestyle, Michigan’s Susan Gilliam – who already has hit an NCAA A (automatic) standard on multiple occasions – won the race, but Irish sophomore Abby Strang (St. Simons Island, Ga./Bolles School [FL]) was second with a time of 17:16.67. Senior co-captain Kelli Barton (Scottsdale, Ariz./Chaparral H.S.) finished fourth in 17:32.41, while rookie Georgia Steenberge (Granbury, Texas/Granbury H.S.) turned in a collegiate-best time in taking fifth with a mark of 17:58.00.
Gilliam also won the 500 free, and Ellen Johnson was the runner-up in 4:57.42. Graham turned in a second collegiate-best time in finishing fourth in 5:09.81.
In the 200 back, sophomore Ann Barton (Scottsdale, Ariz./Desert Mountain H.S.) was just outtouched for first place, finishing with a time of 2:05.48. Peterson finished fifth in 2:10.33.
In the 200 free, Ellen Johnson was the top Irish finisher, taking third in 1:52.70, while Graham notched her first top time of the meet, a 1:54.00 that was good for fifth place.
Michigan took the top four spots in the 50 free, with Grove leading the Irish with a time of 24.38.
The Irish lost a second-semester dual meet for just the second time in the last six seasons, with the other defeat also coming against Michigan, last season.
Notre Dame has one dual meet remaining, as it will travel to Rochester, Mich., on Saturday, Feb. 5 to take on Oakland in a 2 p.m. (EST) meet. After that, the Irish will head to East Meadow, N.Y., in search of their ninth consecutive title at the BIG EAST Championships Feb. 16-19.