Feb. 23, 2008
EAST MEADOW, N.Y. – The University of Notre Dame men’s swimming and diving team was not only able to hold on to its lead heading in the final day of the 2008 BIG EAST Conference Swimming and Diving Championships, but the team flexed its muscle to extend their margin of victory over the league opponents as the Irish claimed their third conference title in four seasons.
With 820 points Notre Dame ousted Louisville (615), Pittsburgh (436), and West Virginia (398.5) to round out the top four scoring squads that comprised the 11-team field at the Nassau County Aquatics Center on Saturday night.
Notre Dame avenged a runner-up finish in 2007 when only five points kept them from standing on top of the podium.
Irish head coach Tim Welsh was named the league’s Coach of the Year. It was the fourth time he has won the award. The team victory was the 30th overall league title Welsh has earned throughout his career.
The final session of the four-day meet started with Andrew Deters (15:12.91) checking in at second in the 1,650 Free with an NCAA B-cut.
John Lytle was third in the 100 Free with a mark of 44.34 to meet the NCAA B-cut standard, which broke his own school record set during last year’s conference meet.
MacKenzie LeBlanc (1:45.94) was second in the 200 Fly and was trailed by Ross Moore (1:46.85). In fact, LeBlanc broke the school record in the event that was previously held by Moore. Moore set the record this past December at the Ohio State Invitational. Patrick Augustyn was two spots behind Moore in 1:48.00, giving all three of the top Irish finishers NCAA B-cut times.
Notre Dame collected the second and third place points in the 3-meter diving event, with Sam Stoner earning 379.60 points and Michael Bulfin posting a score of 368.60.
Michael Sullivan was fourth in the 200 Back with a final time of 1:48.41.
The 400 Free Relay squad (Lytle, Andrew Hoffman, Danny Lutkus, and Joshua Nosal) raced to a silver finish in 2:59.05, also an NCAA B-cut time and new school record.
–ND–