DAY ONE RESULTS | DAY TWO RESULTS
NOTRE DAME, Indiana — The No. 21/23 Notre Dame Swim & Dive team concluded the season-opening virtual meet vs. West Virginia Saturday, featuring another pool-record performance by sophomore Jack Hoagland, marking a 8:51.86 in the 1000 Free.
Saturday was the second of two sessions in the virtual meet. Both teams executed the same events at their home facilities, and times were ranked after the session concluded to determine rankings and winners. Times achieved at the meet count for program and pool records, but will not count as NCAA-qualifying times.
“Both teams raced incredibly hard this morning after a quick turnaround from yesterday’s session,” Irish head swim coach Mike Litzinger noted after the meet. “We put them up against the wall on purpose to see how they would respond, and they responded very well.”
“It was exciting once again to get off the blocks, get off the diving boards, and have some fun with this virtual meet. We’re looking forward to a day where we can compete with another team head-to-head, and that’s coming up soon in December.”
THE HIGHLIGHTS
The Irish took first in 17 out of 18 swim events Saturday, while sweeping the diving events. In addition to Hoagland’s pool record 8:51.86, which topped the previous pool record of 8:57.69, another notable performance came from freshman Sydney Whiting, who placed first in the women’s 200 Free (1:48.84).
“Our relays truly stepped up and are starting to gel,” Litzinger added. High points came in each relay, in which Notre Dame posted a clean sweep.
In the 200 Medley relay, the women’s team of Carly Quast, Ellie Jew, Cailey Grunhard and Rachel Wittmer turned in a 1:39.36, while the men (Brendan Santana, Josh Bottelberghe, Zach Smith and Cason Wilburn) marked a 1:27.97.
In the 400 Free relay, Skylar Fore, Grunhard, Peyton D’Emanuele and Kallie Chelsvig turned in a 3:21.51 for the women, and Wilburn, Alec DeLong, Santana and Sadler McKeen posted a 2:58.19 for the men.
On the diving end, Kelly Straub and Austin Flaute swept both events, as Straub scored a 304.58 in the 1 meter and 363.83 in the 3 meter, and Flaute posted a 331.88 in the 1 meter and a 379.20 in the 3 meter.
“Overall, we had a good day, an improvement from last night,” head dive coach Mark Bradshaw said. “Annie Wiese was consistently good both days, Kelly Straub finally let loose on 3-meter with a fantastic six-dive list, and Austin Flaute had a really steady day, as well, with a really good 3-meter event.”
According to Bradshaw, Straub, Wiese and Flaute attained zone-qualifying scores in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events, while David Petrison also marked a zone-qualifier in the 1-meter.
UP NEXT
The Irish are scheduled to take on their first in-person meet Dec. 4-5 in Indianapolis against IUPUI and Cincinnati.