Jan. 17, 2009
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Although the Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving team won eight of 16 events Saturday at the Wright Natatorium, the Irish dropped the final race of the meet to fall to BIG EAST Conference Louisville, 156-144. No. 21 Louisville nearly set a school record in the 400 Free Relay (3:24.64) to finish the afternoon, just ahead of 24th-ranked Notre Dame’s time of 3:27.43.
It was the second time in as many weeks that the Irish were defeated in a dual meet on the final race, after having dropped last Saturday’s showdown at Northwestern on the last relay.
Following the loss, Notre Dame (3-2) now looks forward to hosting the Shamrock Invitational at the Rolfs Aquatic Center from Jan. 23-24.
200 Medley Relay: Maggie Behrens, Samantha Maxwell, Kellyn Kuhlke and Amywren Miller posted a 1:43.04 in the winning effort … the time was a new pool record.
1,000 Free: Lauren Sylvester struck gold with a 10:04.97 … teammate Casey Wagner (10:19.97) was fourth overall.
200 Free: Megan Farrell (1:50.80) finished just off of first place … Amy Prestinario (1:54.08) was fifth.
100 Back: Lauren Parisi (57.52) was second and Behrens (58.76) was fourth for the Irish.
100 Breast: Another pool record fell, this time by Samantha Maxwell (1:02.16) … she shattered the previous best set by West Virginia’s Kitti Veisz (1:03.10) in 2006.
200 Fly: Katie Casey continued her hot streak, touching first in 2:01.26 … Claire Hutchinson was right behind for second in 2:05.45.
50 Free: Miller finished (23.24) just outside of first, as Louisville’s Whitney Campbell touched first with a 23.15.
3-meter Diving: Heidi Grossman (296.10) bettered all divers in the six-person field … Tiffany Robak (269.93) was third and Natalie Stitt (269.25) was fourth.
100 Free: Miller (51.50) was a stroke behind Campbell (51.48) once again … Delia Cronin (52.88) was fifth and Prestinario (52.93) was sixth.
200 Back: Farrell (2:03.38) was Notre Dame’s top finisher, taking third … Parisi (2:03.87) was a hair behind her in fourth.
200 Breast: Maxwell took her second win of the day in 2:15.04 … she was aided by Lizzy Gormley (2:26.60) who was sixth and Gwen Blythe’s (2:31.66) seventh-place swim.
500 Free: Sylvester dominated the distance events, this time taking the win in 4:56.47 … third place went to Hutchinson (5:03.30) and Wagner was fourth (5:07.30).
100 Fly: Casey impressed the crowd with a 55.33 and gold medal honors … Kuhlke muscled her way to third in 56.98.
1-meter Diving: Grossman (257.40) was second overall … Robak (254.55) was immediately behind her … Theresa Hall (233.77) was fifth.
200 Individual Medley: Farrell’s silver effort came in 2:04.56 … Emily Barton sped through for fourth in 2:06.78.
400 Free Relay: All the marbles came down to the final race, which the Cardinals captured in 3:24.64 … Cronin, Farrell, Prestinario and Miller were second in 3:27.43.
–ND–