Nov. 21, 2008
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Junior John Lytle won three individual events but the Notre Dame men’s swimming team dropped Friday’s dual meet to No. 11 Ohio State, 172.5-86.5, at the Rolfs Aquatic Center. The loss leveled Notre Dame’s dual meet record to 3-3 on the season as Ohio State moves to 4-0.
“I think that the three things that stand out for me from the meet are that, first of all, Ohio State is very fast,” Irish head coach Tim Welsh said. “We knew they would be and they are. They’re 11th in the nation and they showed tonight just why.
“The second thing that stands out is how much we love John Lytle. John Lytle had a spectacular meet. Not only did he win his events, but he won them in faster times than he’s been going so far this fall – it was like a double win in those categories.
“The third thing is that, without going person by person, we’ve been very consistent throughout the fall. Whatever we do, we do it. At home, we do it on Friday, we do it on Saturday, we do it in California and we do it in Cleveland. We had some movement in various places tonight and that’s what we’re looking for and certainly we’ll hope there’s a good deal of more movement in the right direction when we get to the Ohio State Invitational in two weeks.
“I think the consistency is important. The guys will tell you that the training work load has gone up, and certainly the academic load in this part of the season has gone up. So when we keep adding all of those extra stresses and the performance level stays the same, that’s a solid sign. We are looking forward to a little break next week for Thanksgiving and then we’ll be back at it the following week and try to be faster at that point.”
Notre Dame looks to return the favor to the Buckeyes when they host the Ohio State Invitational from Dec. 5-7.
200 Medley Relay: Ohio State jumped to the lead with strong starts from both of their backstrokers, Andrew Misich and Andrew Elliott … the Buckeyes continued to press forward with the gap deepening and finished 1-2 in 1:31.41 and 1:32.87 … Notre Dame took third in 1:36.58.
1,000 Free: At the half way point in the race, four Ohio State swimmers held 10-yard leads over their closest opponent, Andrew Deters … Ohio State’s top two, Stefan Sigrist and Mark Neiman, locked in respective times of 9:19.56 and 9:20.00 … Deters hit the wall first for Notre Dame in 9:36.51.
200 Free: Lytle sprung off to a small lead in the first half of the race, sandwiched between Buckeye swimmers Andrew Olson and Jacob Busch … in the last 50, Lytle and Olson became the clear leaders of the field … the two leaders carried their close battle into the final 25 yards … Lytle managed to hold his slight advantage and bring home gold for the Irish squad in a time of 1:39.57 … Olson followed shortly taking second for Ohio State in 1:42.67.
100 Back: Ohio State’s Elliot gained an early advantage coming out of the start and the first turn … Irish leader Nosal hit the wall first for the home team in 52.43.
100 Breast: Coming out of the pullout, Felipe Travesso peaked ahead of the field for the Buckeyes and went ahead to finish first in 56.22 … Joseph Raycroft touched first for the Irish in 1:00.12.
200 Fly: The race opened with some outside lane speed coming from Buckeye swimmer Niksa Roki … in the center of the pool, MacKenzie LeBlanc of Notre Dame was in close contention with opponents Matthias Sigrist and Quincy Lee for second-place honors … n the last 50 yards, the center pack started to close on Roki’s early lead … Sigrist and Lee went 1-2 in 1:49.77 and 1:50.60 … LeBlanc hit the wall in 1:52.42.
50 Free: In a tight heat, the first set of feet to hit the wall at the turn were those of Lytle … the men continued to blast the water in the second length with Joel Elber chasing first place very close behind … Lytle continued his aggression and held down first place for Notre Dame with a finishing time of 20.84 … Elber touched the wall just after in 21.13.
100 Free: Lytle broke out to a lead much like he did in the 50 Free … again, Elber was his primary competitor … moving into the final 50 yards of the race, the two athletes commenced part two of their recently familiar duel … Lytle did not run out of speed and continued to charge forward in the final length … first place went to Lytle with his 45.85 performance and the silver went to his competitor, Elber, who finished in 46.28.
200 Back: The tandem of Nosal and Christopher Wills paced the Notre Dame contestants … the pair finished 3-4 in 1:53.93 and 1:54.07.
200 Breast: The Buckeyes plunged into the lead with Elliott Keefer and Daniel Malnik heading up the field … Daniel Rave started to gain ground on Travesso to secure the third place position, but ran out of time … he finished in 2:09.46.
500 Free: For the first half of the race, Michael Sullivan battled with Buckeye swimmer Mark Neiman … at the 350-yard mark it started to become apparent that Nieman would break away as Sullivan’s speed abated … in the final 200, Sullivan found himself in a tight race with George Markovic and Sigrist for second … Neiman continued to break the water first and took victory in a time of 4:34.77 … Sullivan finished as Notre Dame’s leader in 4:39.49.
100 Fly: The race for the gold heated immediately as Ohio State’s Andrew Bretscher and Sigrist hit the turn with Notre Dame’s MacKenzie LeBlanc separated by .03 … in the second half, Bretscher and Sigrist kept their second splits low and were the first two finishers of the field … LeBlanc’s 51.11 earned the Irish a third-place finish.
200 Individual Medley: Sullivan posted a solid performance, finishing third in 1:56.78 to lead the Irish.
400 Free Relay: Lytle and Joel Elber started a third battle, this time involving the top relays of Ohio State and Notre Dame … their teammates Andrew Hoffman (Notre Dame) and Bretscher (Ohio State) held even with one another during the second leg of the race … shortly after the third swimmers entered the water, Olson started to gain ground for the Buckeyes and finished with a three-yard lead … Notre Dame’s final member of the pursuing relay, Thomas Van Volkenburg, immediately went to work hunting down his opponent, Sigrist, making steady progress … in the last 25 yards, Sigrist started to break away once and again and sealed the first place victory for Ohio State in a time of 3:04.53 … Van Volkenburg hit the wall completing a time of 3:05.52 for the Irish.
–ND–