December 5, 1998

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The Notre Dame men’s swimming and diving team and the Michigan women’s team maintained their leads on the final day of competition to capture the 1998 Notre Dame Invitational at the Rolf Acquatic Center.

The Irish captured the men’s title with 1,524 points, outdistancing second-place Florida State by 348 points as the Seminoles finished with a score of 1,176. They were followed by Western Kentucky (1,130), Michigan State (1,085), Ball State (863), Ohio University (655), West Virginia (619) and Wisconsin-Milwaukee (82).

In the women’s division, the Wolverines edged out the Irish by eight points as they finished with 1,163 points compared to Notre Dame’s score of 1,151. Colorado State took third with 1,016 points in the three-day event, followed by Florida State (964.5), Michigan State (876), Ohio University (796.5), West Virginia (704.5), Western Kentucky (535.5), Northern Michigan (386) and Wisconsin-Milwaukee (82).

The Notre Dame men had two winners in Saturday night’s finals. Sophomore Dan Szilier turned in one of the evening’s best performances when he captured the 200 yard breaststroke in a pool record and meet record time of 2:02.28. Junior John Lubker was was other victorious Irish swimmer as he won the 650 freestyle with a winning time of 5:45.91.

Michigan, which led throughout the three-day competition, won three events on the final day of competition. Lindsay Carlberg captured the 200-yard backstroke in the winning time of 2:00.15, while teammate Shannon Shakespeare won the 100-yard freestyle with a pool record and meet record time of 49.27, which bettered her the previous mark of 50.75 set during the preliminaries earlier that day. The Wolverine 400-yard relay team of Jenn Crisman, Missy Sugar, Jenny Arndt and Shannon Shakespeare was also victorious with a pool and meet record time of 3:21.65.

Two members of the Irish women’s team were victorious on the final night. Freshman Allison Lloyd took first in the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:29.61 as she beat out teammate Shannon Suddarth who finished the race in 2:20.55 after recording the fastest time in the prelimaries. Allison Newell placed first in the 200-yard butterfly with a winning time 2:04.48.

Freshman Kim Van Selm of Ohio University won her second event of the meet as she took first in the 1,650 freestyle with a time of 17:07.01, more than 11 seconds better than the second-place finisher.