Nov. 1, 2014
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame men’s swimming and diving team lost to Purdue at home Saturday afternoon, 161-139. The Irish are now 1-1 on the year.
“We swam hard and raced well, but at the same time, we need to make sure we do all of the fundamentals a little bit better,” Irish head coach Matt Tallman says. “There were enough instances which could have made a difference in today’s meet where if we had just been a little smarter throughout the race, the end result might have been different.”
The Irish got off to an impressive start as the 200 medley relay team of Bogac Ayhan, Cameron Miller, Justin Platschka and Zach Stephens came in first with a 1:30.72 mark. The Irish earned runner-up status in the next two events, with Kevin Bradley finishing the 1,000 free in 9:31.97 and Trent Jackson clocking in at 1:40.50 in the 200 free.
After a timing system failure and some dispute on splits, the results of the 100 back had the Irish taking first, third and fifth place – Ayhan clinched first with his 50.16 time, while Rob Whitacre touched in third with a 50.60 time and Tom Anderson finished fifth in 51.31.
In 100 breast, Notre Dame finished second, third and fourth. Miller had the top time with his 55.53 posting but not far behind was fellow senior Patrick Olson, 56.81. Rounding out the top three finishes for the Irish was Andrew Jensen, who touched the wall in 57.22 seconds.
In the 200 fly, school record holder Jonathan Williamson demonstrated his prowess in the pool with a first place finish of 1:48.26. Bradley finished fourth (1:54.16), while Broderick Kelley finished fifth (1:54.91) and Matthew DeBlasio came in sixth (1:55.25).
In both the 50 free and 100 fly, the difference between first and second came down to .01 of a second – Stephens out-touched his Irish teammate Plaschka in the 50 free (Stephens, 21.04, Plaschka, 21.05) and Williamson lost out to Purdue’s Stephen Seliskar, 49.35 to 49.36. In the 50 free, freshmen Joseph Krause and Gabe Ostler finished fifth and sixth, while in the 100 fly Olson finished fourth (50.20) and Kelley came in fifth (52.02).
In the 100 free, the Irish finished third through sixth with Plaschka earning the top time, 46.72.
In the 200 back, Anderson came in second with his 1:51.04 mark, and Ayhan clinched fourth place with his 1:51.83 performance. James McEldrew finished fifth, touching the wall in 1:52.19. In the 200 breast, Stephens – the school record holder both in the 100 and 200 events – came in first a mere .05 of a second faster than his Purdue counterpart, boasting a 1:59.68 finish. Miller finished third, touching the wall in 2:04.70.
In the 500 free, freshman Benjamin Jany won in his first outing with the Irish, clocking in at 4:35.66.
Stephens and Purdue’s Gillermo Blanco swam neck and neck next to each other in the 200 IM, with Blanco edging ahead 1:48.46 over Stephen’s 1:48.51 time. In the last event of the dame, Notre Dame’s `A’ and `B’ 400 free relay teams took second and third. The A lineup of Plaschka, Jackson, Reed Fujan and Bradley finished in 3:04.74 compared to the B team’s (Jany, Krause, Harlin Bessire and Ostler) 3:07.16 time.
Over on the diving boards the Boilermakers came out on top in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events, but the Irish gave them a run for their money in both events. Joseph Coumos came in second in the 1-meter (339.30) and fourth in the 3-meter (353.40).
Seniors Nick Nemetz and Ted Wagner were both impressive against Purdue, with Nemetz finishing fourth in the 1-meter (314.78) and third in the 3-meter (363.60). Wagner came in sixth in the 1-meter (304.57) and dove for exhibition in the 3-meter (311.32).
Sophomore James Lichtenstein and freshman Peter Myers came in seventh and ninth in the 1-meter respectively. Lichtenstein came in sixth in the 3-meter (316.50) whereas Myers finished seventh (315.30).
Looking ahead, the Irish are next in the water against Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech next weekend, as they welcome the Panthers and Hokies to the Rolfs Aquatic Center Nov. 7 and 8.
“What we did today doesn’t take away from the fact that in a lot of instances, we swam faster than we normally have at this point of the season,” says Tallman. “To reiterate, the things we slipped up on today, we work harder at and be prepared for next week.”
Lizzie Mikes,
Media Services Coordinator
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