January 23, 1999

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s swimming team are in first place after one day of competition at the Bill Ritter Invitational hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The Irish, with 276 points, are ahead of host Wisconsin-Milwaukee by only seven points and are in front of third-place Wisconsin-Green Bay by 52 points with one more day of competition left today.

The Irish were led by junior Sean Casey (Little Rock, Ark.) who won the 500 freestyle with a time of 4:46.24. Notre Dame also was able to score points after a three through five finish in the 200 individual medley. Senior Steele Whowell (Fontana, Wis.) captured third in the 200 IM with a time of 1:58.31, followed closely behind by teammates Jonathan Pierce (Newburgh, Ind. (1:58.50)) and James Scott-Browne (Seattle, Wa. (1:58.61)). In the 50 freestyle, junior Robert Fetter (Lakeland, Fla.) led the Notre Dame contingent with a third-place showing in a time of 21.94.

In the relay events, the Notre Dame A and B squads finished second and fifth in the 200 freestyle relay and second and sixth in the 400 medley relay.

The competition will conclude today in Milwaukee with two sessions, one beginning at 10 a.m. and the final one getting underway at 5:30 p.m.