Before the Irish swimmers head home for Thanksgiving, the group will travel to Columbus for the Ohio State Invitational Nov. 17-19. Both teams are 2-1 with wins over Pittsburgh and Penn State and a loss to No. 10 Louisville. The Cardinals are tenth on both the men’s and women’s side.
This weekend’s invitational will have numerous high-level programs, making it an excellent mid-season benchmark for Lindauer to determine where his programs stand. Ranked teams participating include the men’s and women’s teams from Ohio State, Virginia Tech and Indiana plus ranked women’s teams from UCLA and Kentucky.
Jack Hoagland has been the standout for the Irish thus far with five individual wins under his belt. His most recent victories were in the 500 and 1000 freestyle against Louisville.
The Irish women’s team has been led in the pool thus far by Coleen Gillilan and Madelyn Christman. In the opener at Pittsburgh, Gillilan won both the 100 breaststroke (1:02.44) and 200 IM (2:04.23) and earned second place finishes in 100 butterfly (54.49) and 200 butterfly (2:02.38). She is the school record holder in both butterfly events.
Christman has been under the 2-minute mark in the 200 backstroke in both meets. Christman ranks third all-time in the 100 backstroke and seventh all-time in the 200 in program history. Irish fans will want to keep an eye on her as the season progresses, as she is poised for a breakout season.
Relays will be a big focus for the group against the elite competition in Columbus. Lindauer has had his team heavily focused on relay performances, and he has sprinters like school record holder Chris Guiliano in his arsenal to help the Irish compete at a high level.
Prelims for the meet will begin at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, while finals will start at 5:30 p.m. Additional meet information can be found here. Finals will be streamed on BTN+.