Head coach Tim Welsh has Notre Dame off to a 4-0 start this season. The Irish will look to improve on that mark this weekend.

No. 16 Notre Dame Returns To The Pool With Two Road Meets This Weekend

Jan. 11, 2007

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The No. 16 Notre Dame men’s swimming and diving team will begin its second-semester schedule this weekend with meets at Oakland University and Cleveland State. The Fighting Irish will square off against Oakland on Friday at 5:00 p.m. (ET) and then travel to Cleveland State, where they also will go up against Duquesne and Xavier at noon (ET).

Notre Dame carries a perfect 4-0 dual-meet record into Oakland on Friday. The Irish are coming off a successful training trip in Florida during the University’s winter break. This weekend’s action will be Notre Dame’s first scored competition since the Ohio State Invitational (Dec. 1-3). The events held in Florida during winter break were not scored.

The Fighting Irish are 8-5 all-time against Oakland, including a 261-106 victory during last season’s Shamrock Invitational in the Rolfs Aquatic Center. A 177-107 decision also went the way of the Irish two years ago at Oakland. Notre Dame has won the past three meetings overall.

Notre Dame has claimed the past 11 meetings against Cleveland State and owns a 22-10 record all-time in the series. The Irish took down the Vikings 142-96 last season in the Rolfs Aquatic Center. In their last trip to Cleveland, the Fighting Irish captured a 137-101 victory during the 2004-05 campaign.

Saturday will mark just the second meeting ever between Notre Dame and Duquesne, with the Irish claiming a 99-44 win during the 1992-93 season in the only previous encounter. The Irish also are perfect against Xavier, owning a 6-0 mark. The two teams have not meet since the 2001-02 campaign when Notre Dame posted a 100-78 victory.

Fighting Irish senior Ted Brown (Kokomo, Ind./Western) will look to add to his team-leading individual win total this weekend. Brown has notched seven solo wins on the season. He has three wins in the 200-yard free, along with wins in the 200 IM, 200 fly, 500 free and 1,000 free. Fellow senior Tim Kegelman (Yorktown, Va./Tabb) also has seven wins, with five coming in relays. Kegelman claimed wins in the 100 fly against Texas A&M and Pittsburgh.

Louis Cavadini (South Bend, Ind./Riley) has tallied five wins this season. The senior has individual wins in the 50 free against Michigan State and in the 100 free versus Pittsburgh along with teaming up on three victorious relay teams.

Jay Vanden Berg (Holland, Mich./Southfield Christian School) also is off to a solid start during the 2006-07 campaign. The junior has notched two wins apiece in the 500 and 1,000 freestyle events.

Newcomers to the Fighting Irish squad also have played a key role to date. Sophomore transfer Jeff Wood (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport/Indiana) has been a member of five winning relay units along with posting a win in the 200-yard back against Texas A&M and a victory in the 100 back against Purdue. Freshman John Lytle (Clearfield, Pa./Clearfield Area) also is a five-time winner in relay events so far this season. Individually, he has clocked wins in the 100 free against both the Aggies and Boilermakers in addition to a victory in the 200 free against Pittsburgh.

Freshman MacKenzie LeBlanc (Plano, Texas/Plano East) captured Notre Dame’s lone win at the Ohio State Invitational as he took the 200-yard butterfly en route to leading the Irish to a third-place finish.

Irish divers have combined to post three wins. Sophomore Michael Bulfin (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas), an NCAA qualifier last season, won the three-meter competition against Purdue and Michigan State. Junior Sam Stoner (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso) captured a victory off the one-meter board versus Michigan State.

Stoner placed first off the one-meter board at the Mike Peppe Meet on Jan. 3 in Florida. The junior posted 337.75 points, which was the third-highest total in program history for one-meter dual meet dives.

For full recaps of this weekend’s action, log onto und.com.

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