Nov. 14, 2014
EAST LANSING, Mich. – The University of Notre Dame men’s swimming and diving team traveled to East Lansing, Michigan, and won over regional rival Michigan State Friday night, 171-127. The Irish are now 3-2 throughout the year.
“We raced pretty well, and we dove exceptional,” Irish skipper Matt Tallman says. “It was good to see a few new events from some of the guys in our last tune up before the Hawkeye meet.”
In the first event of the evening, the Irish won the 200 medley relay, with the team of Bogac Ayhan, Cameron Miller, Zachary Stephens and Justin Plaschka touching the wall in 1:31.78. The B-team came in third with a 1:32.97 mark.
Moving in to the distance events, freshman Benjamin Jany came in third in the 1,000 free (9:36.87), while Irish teammate Joe Petrone wasn’t far behind with his 9:45.77 timing. Kevin Hughes placed sixth, 10:05.28.
In the 100 back, the Irish took second, third and fourth place, earning nine points in the team score as a result. Ayhan was the top finisher (50.31), while Robert Whitacre finished third (51.68) and junior Matthew Buerger placed fourth (51.78).
The Irish extolled their expertise in breaststroke against the Spartans, with senior Patrick Olson touching the wall first in 56.80 seconds. Andrew Jensen claimed third (58.58), narrowly beating Miller (58.64) to the wall.
The Irish next logged two one-two punches with the 200 fly and 50 free events. School record-holder Jonathan Williamson claimed the title in 200 fly (1:51.19), but sophomore Kevin Bradley impressed Irish eyes with his second-place finish (1:51.60). In the 50 free, Stephens won with a 20.78 time and Plaschka came in second, 21.24. Michigan native Joseph Krause came in fifth, 21.55, before finishing fourth in the 100 free, 47.12.
In 200 back, James McEldrew out-touched Spartan foe Sam Hiller for the win, 1:51.48 to 1:51.76. McEldrew went on to win the 400 IM as well, clocking in at 4:04.03. Senior Matthew DeBlasio claimed fourth (4:10.63) while Jany came in sixth (4:21.80).
In the 200 breast, Olson placed second, (2:07.94) with Miller and Jensen tying for third – both Irish swimmers touched in with a readout of 2:08.51.
In the diving events, it wasn’t even close for the Irish, as the six-man rotation earned top five finishes in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events. Joseph Coumos won both events with his 383.10 score in 3-meter and 370.80 mark in the 1-meter. The only other Michigan native on the team, senior Nick Nemetz took second in both events also (337.83 in 3-meter, 324.67 in 1-meter).
The Irish closed the meet with another relay win, this time in the 400 free. Stephens, Plaschka, Buerger and Hughes combined for a 3:04.63 readout, while the B-team lineup of Olson, Bradley, Jackson and Michael Hudspith came in third (3:06.37).
The Irish are next in action Dec. 5-7 at the Iowa Hawkeye Invitational. Notre Dame won the Iowa meet last year with a whopping 1,228.5 points – the second highest total in meet history.
Lizzie Mikes,
Media Services Coordinator
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