Dec. 1, 2012
IOWA CITY, Iowa – The University of Notre Dame men’s swimming and diving team held its ground Saturday on day two of the Hawkeye Invitational at the University of Iowa Aquatic Center.
The No. 19 Fighting Irish upped its team point total to 506 through two days, remaining in the runner-up position behind No. 1 Michigan, the defending meet champion.
Sophomore diver Nick Nemetz capped a successful weekend by claiming victory off the 1-meter board with a score of 333.25 points. Nemetz placed second Friday night in the 3-meter dive to lead the Fighting Irish in the event.
Notre Dame’s ‘A’ entry in the 800 free relay, which featured junior Frank Dyer, senior John McGinley, freshman Michael Hudspith and senior Bill Bass, posted a time of 6:30.72 to earn second-place points. The Fighting Irish 200 free squad won a silver medal Friday with a team time of 1:19.56.
Dyer added his second individual NCAA B-cut of the meet in the 200 free, swimming a season-best 1:36.27 to touch the wall just behind Michigan’s Michael Wynalda. Senior Christopher Johnson equaled the feat during the finals of the 100 breast, copping a B-cut of his own with a time of 54.63.
The third and final day of the Hawkeye Invitational will be held Sunday at the University of Iowa Aquatic Center.
Event-By-Event:
200 Medley Relay: The Notre Dame team of Bertie Nel, Johnson, Dyer and Zachary Stephens touched in at 1:28.62 to claim fourth place. Bogac Ayhan, Cameron Miller, Bass and Kevin Overholt earned a sixth-place finish with a time of 1:29.68.
400 IM: Nel was the top Fighting Irish competitor with a season-best effort of 3:56.15 (fifth place). James McEldrew (3:58.36) followed in sixth place.
100 Fly: Bass clocked in at 49.03 for a season-best time and ninth-place points. John Williamson was close behind in the 10th position (49.24).
200 Free: Dyer swam his second season-best final (1:36.27) of the weekend after improving his 500 free time by nearly 10 seconds on Friday. McGinley rounded out the top heat in 1:39.07, his fastest time of 2012.
100 Breast: Johnson’s time of 54.63 was the quickest Notre Dame individual time in the stroke this season. Stephens added an NCAA B-cut after touching the wall in 55.21.
100 Back: Nel posted a personal-best time of 48.61 in a seventh-place finish. Matt Buerger added career-best swim (50.24) of his own.
1M Dive: John Andrade scored a career-high 308.55 points to take third place behind Nemetz and Michigan’s James Ross. Ryan Koter rounded out the top-five with 297.55 points.
800 Free Relay: The team of Dyer, McGinley, Hudspith and Bass (6:30.72) finished just over one second above an NCAA provisional qualifying time.
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