Nov. 2, 2001
The University of Notre Dame men’s swimming and diving team had the daunting task of taking on perennial NCAA Championship contender Tennessee in a dual meet on Friday evening at the Joyce Center. The Irish would end up suffering their first dual meet loss of the season 134.5 – 81.5, but the swimmers, divers and fans all seemed to enjoy the highly competitive meet.
Irish head coach Tim Welsh and Tennessee head coach John Trembley put together an unusual order of events at the meet, including synchronized diving, an underwater butterfly kick relay, and a number of 50-yard sprint events that do not usually appear in a collegiate dual meet.
Sophomore J.R. Teddy did make his presence known in the meet, playing a part in two of Notre Dame’s three event victories.
Combining with Jonathan Pierce, Matt Bertke and Matt Obringer, Teddy helped the 800 freestyle relay team coast to victory in 7:00.14. The Irish pulled away in Teddy’s leg of the race (second) and never looked back.
Teddy also swam to an individual victory in the 350-yard freestyle, beating Evan Nylander of Tennessee by two seconds in 3:11.26.
Notre Dame’s third victory in the meet was in another unusual event – the 400 freestyle relay that featured eight swimmers to a team. The Irish team of Mike Koss, Frank Krakowski, Adam Cahill, Andrew Pittman, Matt Obringer, Austin Anderson, Matt Bertke and Jonathan Becher posted a 2:57.18 time to win the event.
The Irish will be back in action on Friday, Nov. 10, in a tri-meet at Connecticut. Notre Dame will face two BIG EAST Conference teams, Connecticut and Rutgers.