Nov. 1, 2002
Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving team, ranked 14th in the nation, was narrowly defeated by #14 Indiana, 154-146, Friday at the Rolfs Aquatic Center. Notre Dame falls to 1-1-1 on the season, while Indiana is 2-0.
The meet was neck and neck and came down to the final race of the night – the 400 medley relay – with the Irish holding a 141-140 lead. Notre Dame was a full body length ahead after the opening leg and still held the lead after the second and third lane, but Indiana’s Meghan Meddendorf caught Notre Dame’s Katie Eckholt with 25 yards remaining in gaining 11 points and the eventual win.
The loss marked the first Irish dual-meet defeat since Purdue beat them 161-138 on Nov. 4, 2000. Since then, Notre Dame had won 16 straight meets and tied one. The Irish won their final five dual meets in 2000-01, all10 in 2001-02 and beat Colorado State to open the season this year. Notre Dame tied Purdue 150-150 on Wednesday night.
Notre Dame did win eight events today with the big winner being junior Danielle Hulick. Hulick who won three events including the 100 backstroke and the 50 freestyle. Hulick also swam the first leg of the winning 400 medley relay, along with juniors Laurie Musgrave and Lisa D’Olier and senior Heidi Hendrick. Other winners today included junior Lisa Garcia in the both the 100 butterfly (56.27) and the 200 freestyle (1:52.17), freshman Courtney Choura in the 100 breaststroke (1:05.24) and junior Marie Labosky, who won both the 200 backstroke (2:02.92) and the 400 individual medley.
In the diving events, Indiana took first, third and fourth in both the one and three-meter events. Notre Dame’s Meghan Perry-Eaton was second on both boards, scoring 290.55 on the three-meter board and 287.77 on the one-meter apparatus. Indiana’s Sara Hildebrand won both events with a score of 306.00 in the three-meter and 290.77 in the one-meter competition.
Notre Dame is next in action on Friday, Nov. 5, against Michigan State at 5:00 p.m.