Jan. 1, 2008
FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Note Dame women’s swimming team will kick off the new year with a dual-meet competition against LSU on New Year’s Day at Pine Crest High School in Ft. Lauderdale where the team has been training over winter break. The meet, which also includes the Irish men’s team squaring off against the LSU men’s squad, is set to begin at 1 p.m. (ET) and excludes diving.
The Irish have taken nearly a month off from competition to both train and rest after having six competitions within seven weeks throughout the months of October and November. This will mark the first time that a Notre Dame women’s team will meet LSU in dual-meet action and the first time the Irish will swim against a team from the Southeastern Conference in a dual meet this season. Overall, Notre Dame holds a 0-2 record against SEC schools in the sport.
LSU comes into the competition ranked 24th while Notre Dame will compete unranked after facing tough fall competition. Despite a 1-5 dual-meet record this season, the Irish have continued swim top times for the season, three of which performances have broke into the top-ten all-time top performances for Notre Dame.
Junior Christa Riggins (Phoenix, AZ/Sunnyslope) has notched the third-best performance in the 200 freestyle, with a time of 1:48.42. Riggins holds the top time of 1:47.82, which she set last season. The other two top-ten times have been set by freshmen Sam Maxwell (Chandler, AZ/Corona del Sol) in the 100 breaststroke (fifth, 1:02.48) and Lauren Sylvester (Philadelphia, PA/Germantown Academy) in the 1,000 freestyle (ninth, 9:59.47).
With Sylvester and Maxwell leading the way, the freshmen currently hold the top times for the 2007-08 campaign for 11 of 16 events. Eight of those top times where set during the last Notre Dame competition at the Washington Husky Invitational in November, where multiple Irish swimmers notched top times for the season.
Notre Dame finishes up its winter training on Jan. 4 with a dual meet against Miami (Fla.) in Coral Gables, Fla. The meet is set to begin at 4 p.m. (ET) and both Irish women’s swimming and men’s and women’s diving will compete.
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