Former Irish swim coach Dennis Stark along with former members of the Notre Dame swimming and diving program will take part in Saturday's alumni meet at Rolfs Aquatic Center.

Fighting Irish To Open Season With Dennis Stark Relays This Friday

Oct. 4, 2006

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will host the 42nd annual Dennis Stark Relays this Friday, Oct. 6 in the Rolfs Aquatic Center. Both the diving and swimming competitions are slated to begin at 5:00 p.m. This will mark the season-opening event for both teams, who are coming off of BIG EAST titles during the 2005-06 season.

Joining the Fighting Irish in the pool will be Ball State, Oakland (Mich.), Marquette, Valparaiso and Wisconsin-Milwaukee, while Illinois State will only be competing on the women’s side. There will be 13 events (11 swimming, two diving) taking place throughout the evening. Notre Dame has captured the meet title 21 times, including last season.

The Irish men return 24 monogram winners and 10 all-BIG EAST performers from last year’s team, which posted a 10-2 dual meet record. Notre Dame captured its second straight BIG EAST title by a 224.5-point margin over runner-up Pittsburgh and the rest of the 11-team field.

Junior Jay Vanden Berg (Holland, Mich./Southfield Christian School) returns as a three-time BIG EAST champion and a five-time all-conference swimmer. He defended his 1,650-yard freestyle BIG EAST title last season along with winning the 500 free. Vanden Berg owns the school record in both of those events in addition to the 1,000 free mark.

Senior tri-captain Tim Kegelman (Yorktown, Va./Tabb) is looking to regain his form from the 2004-05 season, which saw him become the first swimmer in program history to qualify for the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships. He competed in the 100 and 200-yard butterfly events along with the 200-yard IM at the 2005 NCAA meet. He holds school records in seven events and is a nine-time all-BIG EAST performer and a three-time conference champion.

Fellow senior captains Ted Brown (Kokomo, Ind./Western) and Louis Cavadini (South Bend, Ind./Riley) are also seasoned and skilled veterans for the Irish. Both were part of the BIG EAST champion 800-yard freestyle relay team last season in a school-record time of 6:35.47. Senior Brian Freeman (Sanger, Calif./Immanuel) and junior Rob Seery (Garden City, N.Y./Garden City) joined Brown and Cavadini on the title-winning relay squad and they will be big contributors, yet again, for Notre Dame this season.

Making the trek to the NCAAs last season for the Irish was diver Michael Bulfin (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas). Bulfin, a sophomore, became just the third student-athlete in program history to make it to the national event. He leads a solid group of Irish divers that also features all-BIG EAST performer Sam Stoner (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso). As a sophomore last season, Stoner placed third off the three-meter board at the conference meet and Bulfin was third in the one-meter competition.

Notre Dame lost a strong 10-man senior class to graduation, yet 10 newcomers appear more than capable of filling in the gap. The Irish begin their dual meet season with a trip to Texas A&M on Oct. 28.

For full results of the Dennis Stark Relays, log onto und.com.

42nd Annual Dennis Stark Relays Order of Events (all distances in yards):

(women will compete in the event first, followed by the men)

200 Free Relay, 400 Medley Relay, 800 Free Relay, 400 IM Relay, 300 Free Relay, 400 Fly Relay, 400 Back Relay, 400 Breast Relay, 1,000 Free Relay, 200 Medley Relay, 400 Free Relay, 1-Meter Diving Relay, 3-Meter Synchronized Diving.