Erin Sheehan  Carly Quast  Meaghan O'Donnell

Notre Dame Women Rise At ACC Championships, Day Two

Results (PDF)        Championship Central

GREENSBORO, N.C. — The evening session concluded with the Irish women gaining ground at the 2019 Atlantic Coast Conference Championships, improving to fourth in the standings through two days of competition with 320.50 points.

“We had another great day of swimming,” Head Coach Mike Litzinger said. “At this point in the meet we have scored more points than any previous ND team has at the ACC Championships.”

The first finals of the evening featured four Irish swimmers in the race, with Abbie Dolan leading the group with an eighth place finish in the 500 free. She touched the wall in 4:44.73 followed by Alice Treuth (11th, 4:45.19), Sinead Eksteen (4:45.56) and Lindsay Stone (4:48.38).

“Abbie Dolan led the way tonight with lifetime bests in the 500 freestyle,” he continued. “She was supported by Alice Treuth who has dropped 11 seconds in that event since her freshman year. Sinead Eksteen and Lindsay Stone also had some great swims tonight.”

Luciana Thomas posted her own top-10 finish in the 200 IMs shortly after as she touched the wall in 1:58.79. Bayley Stewart also qualified for the finals following her strong prelims swim, taking 16th in the 200 IM finals with a time of 2:00.58.

“In the 200 IM we performed beautifully,” Litzinger said. “Luciana Thomas tied for 9th winning the B final with a lifetime best performance and senior Nikki Smith won the C final with a lifetime best as well.”

The final individual event of the evening, the 50 free, saw Carly Quest nearly make the podium, finishing fourth as she got outtouched at the wall in 22.43 seconds. Katie Smith also competed in the finals, taking 16th overall with her time of 23.02.

The final event of the evening featured four Irish swimmers in Quast, Dolan, Lauren Heller and Smith. They finished the 200 free relay sixth overall with a time of 1:29.36 to boost the women’s team into fourth place overall.

“Our 50 freestyle was solid as Carly Quast finished 12th and then combined with Abbie Dolan, Lauren Heller, and Katie Smith for 6th in the 200 free relay,” he added.

The competition continues tomorrow with the first prelims of the day diving in at 10 a.m. The finals will again begin at 6 p.m. and will be streamed on the ACC Network and Watch ESPN.


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