Oct. 9, 2009
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Michigan set seven meet records while the Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving team took three events Friday at the Rolfs Aquatic Center during the season-opening Dennis Stark Relays. The Irish won the 200 Medley Relay in 1:44.67 for a meet record and swept the 1-meter Diving Relay and 3-meter Synchronized Diving events.
Notre Dame totaled 186 points as Michigan led the way with a score of 211. Illinois State (141) was third overall, followed by Valparaiso (90) and Cleveland State (78).
“We swam tough tonight but I would have liked to have been on the winning side of a few more races,” Irish head coach Brian Barnes said. “This team needs a little more grit, but the team is making positive strides in terms of culture, attitude and toughness. We’re moving in the right direction.
“Racing today will help us going into tomorrow’s dual meet with Michigan. Many of the girls haven’t competed in a while and you could tell we were a bit race-rusty. Competing tonight will make for a good meet in the morning for both Notre Dame and Michigan. We treated tonight as a training challenge. And it’s October so we should be tired.”
Notre Dame returns to action Saturday (Oct. 11) at home against Michigan. The meet begins at 10:30 a.m. (ET) with lives stats available at UND.com. For up-to-the-minute results, sign up for IRISH ALERTS text-messaging services at UND.com.
—
200 Free Relay: Natasha Moodie blazed out to an early lead for the Wolverines … Alexa Mehesan and Liz Koselka maintained the nearly two-second lead on the field … a sterling anchor split by Amywren Miller (22.83) was not enough to catch Michigan’s Kristyne Cole … Michigan touched the wall in 1:36.49 to secure the opening win … the effort edged the previous meet record by 0.17 seconds … Notre Dame finished in 1:37.31.
400 Medley Relay: Mattie Kukors helped the Wolverines establish a slight lead after the backstroke leg of the relay … Irish breaststroker Samantha Maxwell recaptured the lead for Notre Dame … Caitlin Dauw retook a slight lead for Michigan after completing the butterfly leg … Michigan’s Moodie put away the race with a strong anchor leg to clock in at 3:48.17 … the effort shattered the previous meet record of 3:54.71 … Notre Dame took second in 3:50.27.
800 Free Relay: Michigan’s Emily Brunemann clocked a strong leadoff swim to pace the event … Cole helped lengthen the lead … Kally Fayhee secured another second of buffer for the Wolverines … Irish anchor Jaime Malandra attempted to slash the deficit, but Michigan’s Koselka kept her at distance to secure the golden time of 7:37.05 … the Irish were second overall in 7:40.38.
400 Individual Medley Relay: Maxwell swam to an early lead for the Irish but Michigan’s Claire Tyler nudged ahead to out-split Irish swimmer Emily Barton on the second leg … Brunemann put some space between her squad and the field … a late charge by Megan Farrell was not enough to beat out Michigan anchor Val Barthelemy who hit the wall at 4:00.15 for the win … the time slipped under the previous meet record by 0.14 seconds … Notre Dame touched second in 4:00.86.
400 Butterfly Relay: Dauw helped Michigan gain a slight advantage after the first leg of the relay … Mehesan helped extend the lead swimming from the second position … Cohagen denied Notre Dame’s Zeina Shanata from making up substantial ground, maintaining the lead … Miller could not reel in Lori Morton of Michigan, who out-touched her, 3:48.39 to 3:48.71 … both times cleared the previous record by nearly six seconds.
400 Backstroke Relay: Michigan’s Kukors swam out to a strong lead closely followed by Lauren Parisi … Wolverine Liz Johnson maintained that lead throughout the second leg … Dierdre Jones helped extend the lead from the penultimate position … Ashley Cohagen finished the race with a strong effort to touch the wall at 3:48.54 for the win and to keep the Wolverine’s winning streak alive … the Wolverine women snared another meet record in the event, besting the previous standard of 3:52.26 … Notre Dame was second in 3:51.56.
400 Breaststroke Relay: Maxwell helped the Irish gain a slight advantage from the leadoff leg … but Michigan’s Melissa Lang overtook Gwen Blythe on the second leg … Barthelemy extended the Wolverine’s lead and Moodie finished strong to help the Wolverines register another victory in 4:27.91, besting the previous meet record by just over a second … in second was Notre Dame at 4:33.99.
1,000 Freestyle Relay: Brunemann posted a strong leadoff time (4:53.66) for the Wolverines to jump out to a comfortable lead … Emily Hanson cruised to the win in open water for the Wolverines, clocking a total time of 9:51.92, just shy of the meet record … Gracie Fredlake and Malandra teamed for a second-place finish in 10:12.03.
200 Medley Relay: Kim Holden swam to a lead for the Irish on the backstroke leg and Maxwell helped extend the lead with an impressive breaststroke split … Michigan’s Julia Andracki made up some ground on the butterfly but could not catch Notre Dame’s Lauren Scott … Miller helped put away the first victory for the Irish, clocking in the team time of 1:44.67 to rewrite the meet record for home team, cutting almost three seconds off the previous standard.
400 Freestyle Relay: Michigan’s Cole out-split Carys Behn of Cleveland State to establish the early lead … a strong second leg by Cronin helped the Irish take the lead halfway through … Mehesan came through to gain a slight lead for the Wolverines before the final swimmer hit the water … Moodie used a powerful final 50 yards for the anchor leg to garner a victory for Michigan in 3:30.28, bettering the previous record of 3:31.01 … Notre Dame was second in 3:31.11 behind the efforts of Farrell, Cronin, Scott and Miller.
1-meter Diving Relay: Natalie Stitt and Heidi Grossman teamed for a score of 578.00 to take first place.
3-meter Synchronized Diving: Grossman and Jenny Chiang dominated the event with 224.30 points … Illinois State was second with a score of 165.90
–ND–