March 1, 2014
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The University of Notre Dame men’s swimming team completed its historic first Atlantic Coast Conference Championship appearance Saturday, recording an additional five school record times to finish sixth overall with 907.5 points at the Greensboro Aquatic Center.
The Irish broke 15 University records during the weekend, some records multiple times during the course of preliminary/finals competition or in leadoff relay splits. All-American Zach Stephens also became the first Notre Dame swimmer to win multiple gold medals at the ACC meet, sweeping both the 100 and 200 breaststroke events during the weekend while setting the meet record in both distances. Two-time All-American Frank Dyer joined Stephens on the first place podium with a victorious 200 freestyle finals swim on Friday night.
Stephens earned his second race win of the weekend after qualifying second with a preliminary swim of 1:55.53 in the 200 breaststroke. The Bloomsburg, Pa. native, turned on the jets in the top finals heat Saturday night, shaving more than two seconds off his preliminary readout to win the conference championship with a record 1:53.34 effort, securing Stephens an NCAA A-cut time.
Dyer lowered his own Notre Dame record in the 100 freestyle on two separate occasions during the meet’s final day, earning the sixth seed with an NCAA invitational time of 43.07. Dyer saved his fastest career swim in the distance for the finals, breaking the 43-second barrier with a time of 42.84 to claim fifth place overall, narrowly missing an NCAA A-cut.
The Irish opened the finals session with the two fastest times in school history in the 1650 freestyle. All-American Kevin Hughes set a new Notre Dame mark with a time of 15:14.70 to score an NCAA B-cut and sixth place, while John Nappi tapped in with an eighth place time of 15:15.94 and an NCAA B-cut of his own.
Tom Anderson set his second individual team mark of the meet in the 200 backstroke finals, logging an NCAA B-cut effort in the C heat. Anderson touched the wall in 1:44.05 to break the previous Notre Dame record by more than one second.
All-American John Williamson notched the fifth Notre Dame program record of championship Saturday, setting the new team best in the 200 butterfly during the preliminary round with a time of 1:43.09. Williamson ultimately took fifth place with an NCAA invitational time of 1:43.21.
The team of Dyer, Stephens, co-captain Colin Babcock and Matthew Buerger closed the meet with a fifth place swim in the final event, the 400 freestyle relay. The Notre Dame entry posted an NCAA B-cut time 2:55.07.
Selected Notre Dame swimmers will next compete at the 2014 NCAA Championship on March 27-29 at the Jamail Texas Swimming Center in Austin, Texas. Based on NCAA A-cut times achieved throughout the ACC Championship, a total of nine different Irish swimmers have already secured automatic bids to the national meet, with more participants to be selected in the coming weeks.
2014 ACC Men’s Swimming Championship – Final Results
Virginia Tech -1264.5 points
North Carolina State – 1226 points
North Carolina – 995 points
Virginia – 972 points
Florida State – 957.5 points
Notre Dame – 907.5 points
Georgia Tech – 543 points
Duke – 482 points
Pittsburgh – 412.5 points
Boston College – 205 points
Miami (Fla.) – 156 points
Notre Dame Program Records
200 Medley Relay – Bogac Ayhan, Cameron Miller, Frank Dyer, Zach Stephens – 1:25.46.
800 Freestyle Relay – Colin Babcock, Frank Dyer, Kevin Hughes, Tom Anderson – 6:21.74.
200 Freestyle Relay – Frank Dyer, Zach Stephens, Matthew Buerger, Kevin Bradley – 1:18.72.
50 Freestyle – Frank Dyer (Leadoff Split) – 19.57.
200 IM – Zach Stephens – 1:44.01.
400 Medley Relay – Matthew Buerger, Cameron Miller, John Williamson, Zach Stephens – 3:09.50.
100 Backstroke – Matthew Buerger (Leadoff Split) – 47.17
400 IM – Tom Anderson (Prelim) – 3:45.82.
200 Freestyle – Frank Dyer – 1:33.20.
100 Breaststroke – Zach Stephens – 52.59 (meet record).
200 Butterfly – John Williamson (Prelim) – 1:43.09.
1650 Freestyle – Kevin Hughes – 15:14.70.
100 Freestyle – Frank Dyer – 42.84.
200 Backstroke – Tom Anderson – 1:44.05.
200 Breaststroke – Zach Stephens – 1:53.34 (meet record).
Notre Dame NCAA `A’ Time Standards
200 Medley Relay – Bogac Ayhan, Cameron Miller, Frank Dyer, Zach Stephens – 1:25.46.
800 Freestyle Relay – Colin Babcock, Frank Dyer, Kevin Hughes, Tom Anderson – 6:21.74.
400 Medley Relay – Matthew Buerger, Cameron Miller, John Williamson, Zach Stephens – 3:09.50.
200 Freestyle – Frank Dyer – 1:33.20.
200 Breaststroke – Zach Stephens – 1:53.34 (meet record).
Notre Dame NCAA `B’ And Invitational Time Standards
200 Freestyle Relay – Frank Dyer, Zach Stephens, Matthew Buerger, Kevin Bradley – 1:18.72.
50 Freestyle – Frank Dyer (Leadoff Split) – 19.57.
50 Freestyle – Frank Dyer (Prelim) – 19.59.
50 Freestyle – Frank Dyer (Final) – 19.62.
500 Freestyle – John Williamson (Final) – 4:23.22.
500 Freestyle – Kevin Hughes (Final) – 4:23.26.
500 Freestyle – Tom Anderson (Final) – 4:24.06.
500 Freestyle – Kevin Hughes (Prelim) – 4:24.88.
500 Freestyle – Tom Anderson (Prelim) – 4:24.91.
200 IM – Zach Stephens (Final) – 1:44.01.
200 IM – Zach Stephens (Prelim) – 1:44.55.
200 IM – Colin Babcock (Prelim) – 1:45.12.
200 IM – Colin Babcock (Final) – 1:45.68.
200 IM – Matthew Buerger (Prelim) – 1:47.19.
200 IM – Patrick Olson (Prelim) – 1:48.24.
200 IM – Cameron Miller (Prelim) – 1:48.34.
200 IM – Bertie Nel (Prelim) – 1:48.48.
400 IM – Tom Anderson (Prelim) – 3:45.82.
400 IM – Tom Anderson (Final) – 3:47.02.
400 IM – John Nappi (Final) – 3:49.28.
400 IM – Kevin Bradley (Final) – 3:50.35.
400 IM – John Nappi (Prelim) – 3:50.49.
400 IM – Kevin Bradley (Prelim) – 3:53.11.
100 Butterfly – John Williamson (Prelim) – 47.20
100 Butterfly – John Williamson (Final) – 47.43
100 Butterfly – Bogac Ayhan (Prelim) – 48.26.
200 Freestyle – Frank Dyer (Prelim) – 1:33.79.
200 Freestyle – Kevin Hughes (Final) – 1:36.34.
200 Freestyle – Kevin Hughes (Prelim) – 1:36.81.
200 Freestyle – Trent Jackson (Final) – 1:36.86.
200 Freestyle – Trent Jackson (Prelim) – 1:37.25.
100 Breaststroke – Zach Stephens (Final) – 52.59.
100 Breaststroke – Zach Stephens (Prelim) – 52.79.
100 Breaststroke – Colin Babcock (Prelim) – 53.36.
100 Breaststroke – Cameron Miller (Prelim) – 53.37.
100 Breaststroke – Colin Babcock (Final) – 53.43.
100 Breaststroke – Cameron Miller (Final) – 53.54.
100 Breaststroke – Patrick Olson (Final) – 54.55.
100 Breaststroke – Patrick Olson (Prelim) – 54.60.
100 Backstroke – Matthew Buerger (Leadoff Split) – 47.17.
100 Backstroke – Matthew Buerger (Final) – 47.44.
100 Backstroke – Matthew Buerger (Prelim) – 47.53.
100 Backstroke – Bogac Ayhan (Prelim) – 47.84.
100 Backstroke – Bogac Ayhan (Final) – 48.05.
200 Backstroke – Tom Anderson (Final) – 1:44.05.
200 Backstroke – Matthew Buerger (Prelim) – 1:45.20.
200 Backstroke – Matthew Buerger (Final) – 1:45.20.
200 Backstroke – Bogac Ayhan (Final) – 1:45.36.
200 Backstroke – Tom Anderson (Prelim) – 1:45.61.
100 Freestyle – Frank Dyer (Prelim) – 43.07.
100 Freestyle – Frank Dyer (Final) – 42.84.
200 Breaststroke – Zach Stephens (Prelim) – 1:55.53.
200 Breaststroke – Cameron Miller (Final) – 1:57.18.
200 Breaststroke – Cameron Miller (Prelim) – 1:57.27.
200 Breaststroke – Colin Babcock (Prelim) – 1:59.17.
200 Butterfly – John Williamson (Prelim) – 1:43.09.
200 Butterfly – John Williamson (Final) – 1:43.21.
200 Butterfly – Brennan Jacobsen (Prelim) – 1:47.19.
400 Free Relay – Frank Dyer, Zach Stephens, Colin Babcock, Matthew Buerger – 2:55.07.
Notre Dame All-Conference Accolades
Frank Dyer – 200 Freestyle (First Team)
Zach Stephens – 100 Breaststroke (First Team); 200 Breaststroke (First Team); 200 IM (Second Team)
–ND–