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Notre Dame announces seven transfers ahead of 2023-24 season

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Following a successful first season with an entirely new swimming coaching staff, Peterson Family Head Swimming Coach Chris Lindauer is using the transfer portal to his advantage. The Irish have added seven transfers — five men and two women — ahead of the 2023-24 year. Six of the seven athletes will be graduate students.

“Overall, I’m just extremely excited for this transfer group coming in,” Lindauer said. “We’re bringing in a lot of experience from all three divisions, which I think is super unique. The athletes are eager and hungry to elevate our program and help us do something that has never been done before at Notre Dame.

“Above the athletic excitement that we have, these athletes have leadership skills and an overall vision that will help our culture continue to grow. They’re all in when it comes to our culture, and they bring a humble and hungry attitude to take advantage of every opportunity that they have.”

Two of the transfers are divers and will add to a team that has two returning NCAA qualifiers this season.

“We are super excited to have Claire and Carlos join our team,” said Mark Bradshaw, head diving coach. “They both bring a skillset to us that’s going to be very helpful. Claire was a fantastic high school diver and had a pretty good freshman year. She will be a very solid dual meet scorer and will vie for making our ACC team. Carlos will round out our two sophomores-to-be, Daniel Knapp and Ben Nguyen. He will be a critical third diver for ACCs and will bring points for dual meets. They’re also very good students and quality individuals.”

Luka Cvetko — Varazdin, Croatia // Freestyle & Backstroke

After four years at Wayne State, Cvetko will join the Irish for a final year of NCAA competition. His list of accomplishments is lengthy. The sprinter was a 15-time All-American, including 10 First Team certificates — eight of those came by way of relays, and Cvetko was also a First Teamer in the 50 free in 2022 and the 100 free in 2021. He holds the pool record at Wayne State in the 50 free (19.62). 

Cvetko also excels in the classroom and was a College Sports Communicators Second Team Academic All American in 2022-23. The freestyler will be pursuing a master’s degree in computer science and engineering at Notre Dame.

Abdelrahman Elaraby — Cairo, Egypt // Sprint Freestyle

The Louisville reunion grows with this addition. The Irish add an ACC champion in Elaraby, who won the 50 freestyle at the conference meet last season for Louisville. He scored a total of 52 points for the Cardinals at the meet, which would have been Notre Dame’s third-highest individual point total. He will also provide much-needed depth in the sprint freestyle events, joining ACC champion Chris Guiliano. 

Elaraby will be pursuing a master’s degree in nonprofit administration.

Claire Feick —  Culver, Indiana // Diving

After a freshman season at Villanova, Feick is moving closer to home. The rising sophomore hails from just around an hour from South Bend and will add much-needed depth to the dive roster following the departure of Samantha Gillis and Allie Klein. In her first year of collegiate diving, Feick earned All-Big East honors in the 1-meter. She posted two career-bests at Big East Championships in February: 482.55 in the 1-meter (11 dives) and 510.35 in the 3-meter (11 dives).

Feick was also a member of the Villanova Athletic Director’s Honor Roll last fall.

Tanner Filion — Louisville, Colorado // Freestyle & Backstroke

Filion has inked his name in the Division III record books, and he will now try to make a name for himself at Division I level. As a senior at Whitman College last year, Filion won and set NCAA records in both the 100 and 200 backstroke, and he placed third in the 100 butterfly. He was named the College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America Swimmer of the Year on March 22. Filion’s best time in the 100 back of 45.75 would currently rank second in Notre Dame history. His 1:41.39 best time in the 200 would rank fourth. Both times would have made the A Final at the ACC Championships in 2023.

Filion plans to pursue a master’s degree in management at Notre Dame after completing a psychology degree at Whitman. 

Megan Glass — Cincinnati, Ohio // Freestyle & Butterfly

Glass brings a lengthy list of accomplishments to Notre Dame after four years at Michigan. The butterfly and freestyle specialist most recently earned a spot on the All-Big Ten Second Team as a senior and finished in the top 16 of the 100, 200 and 500 freestyle at 2023 Big Ten Championships. She is a two-time Big Ten champion, both victories coming in 2021 (400 and 800 freestyle relays). 

The Cincinnati native is a double Michigan swimming legacy, as her dad, Kevin, swam for the Wolverines from 1991-94, and her mom, Beth, swam for Michigan from 1993-96. Glass intends to study business analytics with a focus on sports at Notre Dame. 

Carlo Lopez — Edmonton, Alberta // Diving

In Lopez, diving head coach Mark Bradshaw brings in a four-time NCAA-qualifying diver. The former Missouri platform specialist took 19th at this year’s NCAA Championships and was a finalist in the 1-meter and platform at the 2023 SEC Championships. He won nine events total for the Tigers last season and a total of 21 events while in Columbia. 

Lopez brings international experience to Notre Dame as well, as he took third in the 3-meter at Canada’s 2018 Junior Elite Nationals.

Liam McDonnell — Bloomfield Hill, Michigan // Freestyle, Butterfly & Backstroke

A jack of all trades, McDonnell joins the Irish after reaching national prominence at John Carroll. The Michigan native is a 12-time All-American at the Division III level and added three Honorable Mention performances as well. He primarily swam sprint backstroke and butterfly for the Blue Streaks, but he was on many postseason freestyle relays as well. McDonnell was the Ohio Athletic Conference Swimmer of the Year in both 2021 and 2023. 

McDonnell received his undergraduate degree from John Carroll in accounting and finance. 

In addition to the transfers, Notre Dame will add Will Clark as a walk-on swimmer. Clark swims for Greater Omaha Aquatics hails from Omaha, Neb. According to Swimcloud.com, he is the No. 4 overall recruit in the class out of Nebraska and the 485th recruit overall in the 2023 class. The breaststroker’s best times include 55.91 in the 100 breaststroke and 2:00.51 in the 200. Clark joins a seven-person 2023 class that signed in November. The complete list of those athletes can be found here.