NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The No. 13/17 Notre Dame Swim and Dive teams will participate in their first invitational of the season at Ohio State, beginning on Thursday at 10 a.m. and continuing through Saturday afternoon. After a successful outing at Pittsburgh and a week to rest, the Irish rose in the CSCAA rankings, and will look to record both NCAA- and Olympic trial-qualifying times in this short and long course meet.
LAST WEEK…
The Irish soundly defeated the Panthers on the two-day meet. As usual, Notre Dame capitalized off of individual wins, posting 21 individual wins from 12 different swimmers and three divers on the weekend. Notre Dame also improved relay finishes during the weekend, winning six of eight relay events.
Coleen Gillilan won all six of her events on the weekend (four individual), while Zach Yeadon won three of his six events, completing a back-to-back winning performance in consecutive events (1000 Free and the anchor leg of the 400 Free Relay).
On the diving end, Irish athletes won three of four events, beginning the weekend with David Petrison’s win (255.75) in the men’s platform competition. On Saturday, Erin Isola (293.78) and Austin Flaute (309.15) posted wins in the 1-meter diving competitions.
THE MEET DEETS
Ohio State Invitational
Teams
Men’s swim teams: No. 21 Kentucky, No. 13 NOTRE DAME, No. 16 Ohio State, No. 19 Virginia Tech, Yale
Women’s swim teams: Buffalo, No. 15 Kentucky, No. 17 NOTRE DAME, No. 14 Ohio State, Ohio University, No. 25 UCLA, Virginia Tech, Yale
Dive teams: Kentucky, NOTRE DAME, Ohio State, Ohio University, UCLA, Virginia Tech, Yale
Dates and times
Thursday, Nov. 21: 10 a.m. (swim prelims), 1:30 p.m. (dive prelims), 5 p.m. (swim finals), 6:15 p.m. (dive finals)
Friday, Nov. 22: 10 a.m. (swim prelims), 1:30 p.m. (dive prelims), 5 p.m. (swim finals), 6:15 p.m. (dive finals)
Saturday, Nov. 23: 8 a.m. (swim prelims), 2 p.m. (platform diving), 6:30 p.m. (swim finals)
Location
McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion, Ohio State (Columbus, Ohio)
Live timing
Online and on Meet Mobile
Events will be spread over three days, with preliminary races taking place in the morning and final races in the evening. Preliminary races will be swam on a long course, while finals will take place on the short course that is traditional to NCAA meets. Olympic qualifying times may be only recorded on long course races, while NCAA qualifying times can be posted only on short courses, so Irish swimmers will have the chance to post qualifying times for both.
The schedule of events is as follows:
Thursday: 200 Free Relay, 400/500 Free, 200 IM, 50 Free, 400 Medley Relay, men’s 1-meter diving and women’s 3-meter diving.
Friday: 200 Medley Relay, 100 Fly, 400 IM, 200 Free, 100 Breast, 100 Back, 800 Free, women’s 1-meter diving and men’s 3-meter diving.
Saturday: 1650 Free, 200 Back, 100 Free, 200 Breast, 200 Fly, 400 Free and Platform diving.
Entering the meet, Zach Yeadon holds the nation’s fastest time in the 1000 Free, and will look to add to his NCAA and Olympic trial times, along with many other Notre Dame swimmers, as well as put together strong team performances as a boost into the winter.
“It gives us a great pulse where we are nationally,” Notre Dame head coach Mike Litzinger explained. “It gives us an opportunity to perform at a high level in the fall and kind of show off what we’ve done this fall in training. So, expectations are pretty high. In terms of season preparation, we want to be 100 percent for ACCs and NCAAs, so we’re probably in the 80-to-85, 90 percent range for this week.”
Closing out the fall slate of competition, the Irish coach looked back on the leadership demonstrated by the upperclassmen during the first half od the season, noting that the team has a clear picture of their goals for the season.
“They smell the fact that we’re a top tier team in the ACC, that they know that we’re a top-15, if not a top-10, team nationally, and they want to make their mark,” Litzinger expressed. “So, at this point, they’re doing everything they can to guide the rest of the team to that kind of mindset.”
And with a large class of freshman (comprising half of the men’s team), Litzinger said that they are learning to make their mark as individuals and on the team.
“Freshmen have done a really nice job finding their competitive footing, both in the training pool and in the racing pool,” the Notre Dame coach explained, noting Gillilan, Jack Hoagland, Sydney Winters, Topher Stensby, Will Barao and Cason Wilburn as names to watch at Ohio State.
The Ohio State Invitational is Notre Dame’s last competition until the spring semester, giving the Irish time to train through the month of December. Follow along throughout the weekend on Twitter (@NDSwimDive). Links for live timing will be posted online the day of the meet.