The Notre Dame men’s swimming and diving team will not have to worry about surprising anyone but themselves in 1999-2000.
A year ago, the Irish seemingly came out of nowhere to finish second at the BIG EAST championships, for the team’s highest finish since joining the conference in 1996. The Irish also set 16 of the 19 school swimming records, claimed three BIG EAST event titles and tallied three NCAA consideration times.
“We caught people by surprise,” said head coach Tim Welsh about the 1999 BIG EAST meet. “It wasn’t clear to most people coming into the meet that we would be as strong as we were.”
With all of those milestones reached, the 1999-2000 squad, under the direction of Welsh, assistant coach Jonathan Jennings and diving coach Caiming Xie, still has many more within its sights.
“What we do this season is start over and try to keep going along the same lines,” said Welsh, who received 1999 BIG EAST coach-of-the-year honors. “We cannot make the mistake of confusing second with first place, no matter how dramatic and thrilling it was. We cannot say that because we were second last year, that therefore second is our rightful place in the order of human events. It’s not and we know every team will come after us.”
Leading the team this year will be the senior class of 2000, which includes captains Sean Casey and Ray Fitzpatrick, and classmates Rob Fetter, Antonio Fonseca, Herb Huesman, Brendan Lechner and John Lubker. Although each brings his own brand of leadership and competes in a variety of events, all have BIG EAST championship experience.
“Most of our university record-holders return and there is a great chance we can continue to improve,” Welsh says. “The problem is replacing our seniors and the leadership and example that the team received from them. Those five guys took more than just points with them when they graduated.”
Those five guys included two-time MVP and three-time high scorer Scott Zumbach, co-captains Chris Fugate and Steele Whowell, school-record-holder Vince Kuna and monogram-winner Mike Doyle. Without them, Welsh still believes the 1999-2000 Irish are a more balanced group, especially with the addition of three freshman divers and the return of senior diver Huesman, who missed all of last season due to injury.
“We will have one huge advantage this year and that is in diving,” Welsh said. “A year ago, we didn’t have any divers and this year, we will dive and we will dive well. We have four divers now to choose from, any of which can score for us in any meet.”
Huesman returns after a one-year hiatus to lead the young group of divers. A two-year monogram winner, Huesman finished 10th in one-meter diving and 12th in three-meter diving two years ago at the ’98 NCAA zone meet. He also owns both one-meter school diving records and brings the Irish consistent results throughout the season.
“Herbie’s commitment to diving is very strong,” Welsh says. “He’s done a magnificent job for us in just two seasons.”
Helping Huesman on the diving boards will be one of the team’s top recruits, senior-national level diver, Andy Maggio. Maggio, who like Huesman hails from Cincinnati, Ohio, is a four-time All-American and was a junior national champion in 10-meter diving and the Can-Am-Mex three-meter champion in 1996.
The team’s second set of divers will be made up by freshmen and local products Tony Xie and Joe Miller. Xie, who is the son of diving coach Caiming, improves from week to week, while Miller continues to develop with more training.
“The second one-two is a Tony Xie and Joe Miller combination,” Welsh said. “Both are from the Notre Dame family and both trained and developed through Caiming’s club program. Even though they lack the experience that Herb and Andy have, they are both solid divers, who make up for it with their enthusiasm, work ethic and commitment to improve.
Other events in which Welsh believes his team can score well include the distance freestyle events.
“Distance freestyle is a strength because we’re fast, we’re deep and there’s a lot of us,” Welsh says.
This year’s distance corps is headlined by the returning BIG EAST champion in the 1650 freestyle, sophomore Jonathan Pierce.
“Jonathan has been an exciting surprise since he got here, and he keeps getting better,” Welsh said. “We know that the kind of training he is doing at the beginning of this year is training he could not have ever done last year. That’s a tribute to him and his club coach in terms of how hard he worked last summer.”
Joining Pierce in the distance lane are seniors Lubker and Casey. Lubker is the University record-holder in the 500 freestyle, while Casey has improved both in the pool and as a leader.
“Lubker and Casey are guys who have been central to us since they’ve been here,” Welsh said. “Sean has grown each season into one of our team’s best leaders, while John keeps life fun for us in addition to being a tenacious racer.”
Pierce, Lubker and Casey will be helped by junior James Scott-Browne, who is arguably one of the team’s most versatile swimmers, juniors Grant Burrall and Ryan Verlin, and sophomore Elliott Drury.
Another strong event for the Irish is the 400 individual medley, even though the team loses Zumbach, who posted back-to-back third-place finishes at the BIG EAST meet in 1998 and 1999. Some of the same swimmers who compete in the distance freestyle events, including Pierce, Lubker, Casey, Scott-Browne, Burrall and Verlin, in addition to freshman Clay Miller, will provide the team with quality finishes in the 400 IM.
“Scott Zumbach lowered his school record a number of times last year, but did he put it out of reach? I don’t think so,” Welsh said. “They’ll have to swim well to get it, but I think more than one guy will look at it and say, ‘I can beat it.'”
While, the Irish have many options in the 400 individual medley, the team is not quite as deep in the shorter race, the 200 individual medley. Fetter, who has gotten more reliable throughout his career, will be helped by some new faces, including Casey, junior Matt Grunewald and Clay Miller, who has swum junior-national-level times in six events, including the 200 IM.
“We expect Clay Miller to pick up where Scott Zumbach left off in both the individual medley and the butterfly events,” Welsh says. “That’s a huge assignment considering Scott was a two-time MVP and three-time high scorer, but Clay’s an athlete who we think has a very, very bright future.”
The butterfly events will be fast ones for the Irish, but not as deep as a year ago with the loss of Zumbach. Senior Brendan Lechner had a phenomenal year last season, placing seventh in the 100 butterfly and swimming the butterfly leg on the third place and school-record-setting 200 medley relay squad at the 1999 BIG EAST championships. Lechner, who did not make the team’s championship squad as a sophomore in 1997-98, also made the 1999 BIG EAST consolation finals in the 200 butterfly, finishing 12th with a career-best time of 1:52.23.
“Brendan trains well, pays attention to detail and I think this is his year,” Welsh said.
Verlin will be another of the team’s threats in the butterfly events, especially in the 200.
“Ryan Verlin kind of announced that he was more than the heir-apparent at the end of last year,” Welsh said. “He is a very skilled butterflier, works extremely hard, has wonderful raw speed and he has added the physical strength that he has needed to carry that speed throughout his race.”
Returnees Burrall, Drury, Fetter, Scott-Browne, sophomore Mark Becher and sophomore David Horak, who has improved dramatically over the last season, bolster the team’s butterfly lineup. Freshmen Matt Hyde and Clay Miller both will be expected to contribute.
Another stroke where the Irish will have more than one swimmer to depend on is the backstroke. The team returns both university record-holders, junior Brian Skorney (100) and Scott-Browne (200), in addition to veterans Horak and Greg Juszli and freshmen T.J. Durkin, Jason Colettis, Hyde and John Hudson.
“We joke about being “Backstroke University,” but the result of having so many backstrokers at this level is that someone will break through,” Welsh says. “There is going to be so much racing going on in practice that they will all go faster and in the best scenario, with that much racing, someone breaks through and takes a giant step for us.”
Skorney, who competed in the backstroke events at last summer’s U.S. Senior Nationals, set the University record of 50.76 in the 100 backstroke at the 1998 Notre Dame Invitational, and his 200 backstroke has improved steadily. A fierce competitor, Skorney swam the backstroke leg on both the medley relays at the 1999 BIG EAST championships, which placed second and third respectively, both in school-record times.
With Scott-Browne swimming a variety of other events, Horak could be the team’s number-two backstroker. As a freshman in 1998-99, Horak advanced to the consolation finals of the 100 backstroke at the BIG EAST meet and was one of three freshmen to earn a monogram.
Juszli is coming off a strong summer of training and is beginning ahead of where he was at any point last year. A good racer and championship performer, Juszli is central to the spirit of the team.
“It will be exciting for everyone, including Greg, if he becomes a major player in the backstroke events,” Welsh says.
Of the four freshmen, Durkin and Colettis have the best chance to make an immediate impact. Durkin won the 1999 Speedo Junior East title in the 100 backstroke, while Colettis went undefeated in the 100 backstroke en route to the Massachusetts state title.
Two swimmers who took giant steps for the Irish swimming program a year ago were junior Dan Szilier (breaststroke) and senior Ray Fitzpatrick (sprint/mid-distance freestyle), both of whom will lead their respective stroke groups in 1999-2000.
Szilier’s many accomplishments last season include winning the BIG EAST title in the 200 breaststroke in school-record time, recording one of the team’s three NCAA consideration marks and becoming the first Notre Dame men’s swimmer to compete on the international level at the 1999 World University Games.
“The titled king of the breaststroke events is Dan Szilier,” Welsh said. “Dan is a workaholic and his 100 breaststroke time has gotten better every year. He is aware that in order for him to be where he wants to be in the 200, he’s going to have to make his 100 faster.”
Szilier will be helped by Fonseca, junior Matt Hedden, sophomores Mike Koss and Becher and freshman Jason Fitzpatrick in the breaststroke events.
Hedden, in addition to being a good student out of the water, has possibly the greatest amount of pure speed of any of the team’s breaststrokers, according to Welsh.
“There is no question that Matt has more raw speed than any of our breaststrokers,” Welsh said. “I think he has learned more about training and racing each season and the challenge for him is to take his speed and direct it into a 100 or 200-yard race whenever he wants to.”
While speed may not be his greatest strength, Becher is more of a technical breaststroker.
“Mark does a good job especially on starts and turns,” Welsh says. “He has adjusted better to our program from last year and we are hoping that this will be a year of big improvement for him.”
Koss, who started his freshman season in 1998 as mainly a freestyle swimmer, emerged as an excellent breaststroker and has improved from week to week. Following a strong summer of training, Koss will give the Irish added depth, especially in the 200.
Ray Fitzpatrick returns to lead the sprint and middle distance freestyle corps after enjoying a phenomenal performance at the BIG EAST championships, in which he recorded or helped set a school record in six of his seven events. Last year’s team MVP earned individual all-conference honors with second-place finishes in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle and also anchored the BIG EAST champion 400 freestyle relay squad, which pushed the Irish into second place overall in the meet’s last event.
“If this were football, Ray’s the guy you would give the ball to when you’ve got to make that yard. If this were basketball, Ray’s the guy you want at the foul line with the game on the line,” Welsh says. “He is our most seasoned, most experienced competitor.”
Ray Fitzpatrick will receive help in the middle distance events from Fetter, Grunewald, sophomore newcomer Austin Anderson and many of those in the distance lane like Scott-Browne, Pierce, Lubker and Casey. Lechner, Clay Miller and sophomore Travis Kline, who had limited opportunities to compete as a freshman in 1998-99, are other names that could appear in the 200 and 500-yard freestyle events.
Unlike the distance and middle distance freestyle events, one of the team’s thinnest events will be the 50 and 100 freestyle, even though they may not be its slowest events.
“The sprint freestyle events, especially the 50 freestyle, are the most wide open events on the team as far as who is going to be in them and how often they will race,” Welsh says. “Part of the challenge will just be to see how to line up our most versatile swimmers.”
Some of those versatile swimmers include Ray Fitzpatrick, Fetter, Scott-Browne, Grunewald, Horak as well as Durkin and Colettis, who both swam high school times that could have helped the Irish a year ago. Koss and even distance swimmers Casey, Lubker and Pierce at relay time will be asked to contribute.
The team’s relay members this season will vary between duals and championship meets with its strongest being the 400 medley and 400 freestyle relays.
“The 400 medley relay in dual meets will be solid, because it will be deep,” Welsh says. “We can score two relays, but the challenge will be to make sure we have the fastest four on the same relay.
“The 400 free relay has been characteristic of us for years. If our 400 free relay is competitive at the speed of the meet, we will be very tough, because we will have no problem having eight guys at the end.”
Of the 200-yard relays, Welsh expects the team to be stronger in the medley relay.
“We are a little better in the 200 medley relay, because our technical skills are better at the start and on the turns,” Welsh says. “Plus, we have at least one guy in every stroke, who has raw, pure speed.”
Although the 800 freestyle relay may not be the strongest for the Irish, it will be just as important if the team is to improve once again at the BIG EAST meet.
“If we are going to be a major player at the BIG EAST meet, our 800 relay must be good,” Welsh says. “The solid development of our middle-distance freestylers means that our 800 free relay will be better than it ever has been, but the 800 is very sophisticated, which always presents a challenge.”
Another of the program’s challenges has remained the same since inception – qualifying its first swimmer or diver for the NCAA championships.
“I keep being optimistic that our first swimming qualifier to the NCAAs will happen any year now,” Welsh says. “Right now, we’re saying it’s this year. We are so close that we know that the door will open for us soon and we trust that when the door does open more than one guy is going to get through.”