Feb. 5, 2011

Complete Results | Photo Gallery

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – In dominating fashion, the Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving team pounded visiting Ball State, 175-65, Saturday afternoon at the Rolfs Aquatic Center. The win improved Notre Dame’s dual meet record to 5-7 on the season as the Irish now look ahead to the BIG EAST Conference Championships, which are two weeks away. The meet will be held in Louisville, Ky., and Notre Dame seeks an unprecedented 15th straight team title.

A victorious rout of each of the 13 events helped Notre Dame maintain its wire-to-wire lead. Both Samantha Maxwell (100 breast, 200 breast) and Lauren Sylvester (200 free, 500 free) finished first in two races as Notre Dame’s senior class competed in its last home meet. The Irish also started and ended the meet with two convincing relay performances.

Jenny Chiang posted a win off the 1-meter board with a 297.75, just one day after competing in the USA Winter National Championships. It was there that Chiang competed in the 3-meter, finishing with a 232.30.

The BIG EAST Championships begin Feb. 11 with the diving portion of the meet. The first day of the swimming competition at the University of Louisville’s Wright Natatorium is Feb. 16.

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400 Medley Relay: Notre Dame’s B-squad was credited with the win in 3:50.64 behind the efforts of Sarah Dotzel, Lauren Stauder, Katie Casey and Mikelle Masciantonio.

1,000 Free: Gracie Fredlake went 10:24.73 for the win … she was followed by Jamie Malandra (10:31.27), who was celebrating her birthday.

200 Free: Lauren Sylvester (1:52.38) finished first among the three swimmers in the field.

50 Free: Amy Prestinario (23.75) was the first of four Irish swimmers to touch the wall … Kelly Ryan (23.94), Masciantonio (23.94) and Lauren Parisi (24.47) were next in line.

200 Individual Medley: Maxwell (2:07.92) took the cake as Lauren Scott (2:08.05) and Emily Barton (2:10.57) were close behind.

1-meter Diving: The win went to Chiang (297.75) as Heidi Grossman (296.55) placed second.

100 Fly: Katie Casey (56.75) squeezed ahead of Ball State’s Haley Richter (56.77) for the win.

100 Free: Ryan went 51.47 to win the race by much more than a solid second … Masciantonio (53.13) was second.

100 Back: Holden (56.16) held court with a gold-worth performance as the only swimmer to break the one-minute barrier.

500 Free: Sylvester (5:07.04) cruised to her second win in front of Malandra (5:11.22).

3-meter Diving: Grossman (310.20) rebounded for the win off the high board.

100 Breast: Maxwell’s second win came in 1:03.98 to sweep the breast events.

200 Free Relay: With the top Irish relay squad swimming an exhibition time of 1:35.51, Notre Dame’s B-team earned the points with a 1:38.70 … that crew consisted of Kellyn Kuhlke, Parisi, Maxwell and Sylvester.

–ND–