Jan. 5, 2008
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving team successfully wrapped up their winter training competition after dominating the University of Miami (Fla.) on Friday afternoon. The Irish bounced back from a close loss to LSU in their first competition during winter break to throttle the Hurricanes.
The dual-meet against the Hurricanes betters the Irish record to 2-6, but more importantly, give the Notre Dame women confidence after a strong finish against Miami. The Irish finished the competition winning nine of 11 swimming events to dismantle the Hurricanes
Starting off Notre Dame’s success was a win in the 400-medley relay. The relay squad consisting of Lauren Parisi, Sam Maxwell, Katie Casey and Christa Riggins took the title with a commanding time of 3:26.58. The Hurricane squad finished behind with a time of 3:56.36.
Notre Dame continued swimming with dominance as the women clocked in with top times with Lauren Sylvester in the 1,000 free, Riggins in the 200 free, Amywren Miller in the 50 free, Megan Farrell in the 200 IM, Casey in the 100 butterfly, Parisi in the 100 backstroke, Casey Wagner in the 500 free and Maxwell in the 100 breaststroke.
On the diving side of the competition, Natalie Stitt continues to be one of the Irish’s top divers, taking first in the three-meter and second in the one-meter. Her score of 271.35 in the three-meter was not only the top score at the competition, but also a season high for Stitt.
The Irish opened up the New Year earlier in the week as Notre Dame matched up with 24th-ranked LSU, staying with the Tigers toe-to-toe until the end of the meet. The Irish finished just 22 points behind LSU, 142-120, in the earlier winter break meet.
Early on the Irish had domination in the 1,000 freestyle with Notre Dame swimmers taking the top four spots. Wagner notched the win with a time of 10:11.52. Teammates Lauren Sylvester, Claire Hutchinson and Zeina Shanata followed behind in second, third and fourth, respectively.
Pulling out two wins for the Irish was Riggins in the 100 and 200 freestyle. Riggins, who leads the Irish with the best time of the season in the 200 free, clocked in with a time of 1:49.70. Later in the meet she took the 100-free title with a time of 50.91.
Other wins for the Irish against LSU included Sylvester’s top performance in the 500 freestyle. Her time of 5:04.16 was good enough for the win. Teammates Wagner and Hutchinson placed in second and third, respectively, in the event.
Parisi surged ahead of the competition in the 200 backstroke with a time of 2:04.02. The freshman leads the team in the event this season.
The Irish women return to the pool with a home competition against Michigan, Indiana and Illinois on Jan. 11 and 12.
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