Feb. 20, 2009
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Four more school records fell Friday as the Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving team extended its lead over the 12-team field at the 2009 BIG EAST Conference Championships. A total of nine Notre Dame records have been broken at the IU Natatorium on the campus of IUPUI since the event began on Wednesday.
With 567 points the Irish are ahead of Louisville (408), Pittsburgh (315.5) and West Virginia (256) in the standings.
“We’ve been getting better every session, and that’s the challenge we talked about at the beginning of the meet,” Irish head coach Brian Barnes said. “The team is stepping in the right direction as it’s good to leave the building after each session on a high note. We also made it a goal to swim fast in the morning, with today’s prelims being a critical session. We put swimmers in the finals and consolations, and that’s how you do it – in the morning. Our confidence is high right now and they’re swimming a great meet.”
The meet wraps up Saturday at 10 a.m. (ET). Live stats and video coverage can be accessed at UND.com. For up-to-the-minute results and scores, sign up for IRISH ALERTS text messaging services at UND.com.
400 Individual Medley: Four women made a cameo in the final heat … Megan Farrell stayed ahead of Emily Barton with the conclusion of the fly portion of the race … Ashlee Edgell made her move during the breast, touching in 3:16.24 before taking on the free … she finished first after a season-best 4:15.17 and an NCAA B-cut … Farrell’s B-cut (4:16.42) was good for second … Barton went 4:19.63 and Claire Hutchinson (4:20.63) was sixth.
100 Fly: Amywren Miller set a school record in the preliminary round with a 53.88 … she had the lead out of the gate to begin the finals, but it was Kellyn Kuhlke who stole the show … Kuhlke logged an NCAA B-cut 53.46 from the outside lane to earn the title and break Miller’s record … Miller was fifth overall in 54.36 … Lauren Parisi was fourth 55.68 in the consolation heat.
200 Free: Christa Riggins nearly defended her title but ended up in second with a season-best and NCAA B-cut 1:47.14 … Farrell was fifth in 1:49.06 and Lauren Sylvester’s 1:49.30 was good for sixth … Amy Prestinario was third in the evening’s first heat in 1:49.97.
100 Breast: Samantha Maxwell (1:00.89) shattered the school (1:01.57) and conference (1:01.49) records during the morning session … she sailed away with the title in 1:00.38 to cement a new benchmark during the finals … Lizzie Gormley’s 1:04.85 also came in the finals.
100 Back: The fastest Irish time ever was locked in by Maggie Behrens in the morning, a 54.58 that was also the school’s quickest performance at a BIG EAST meet … but she outdid herself in the evening with an NCAA B-cut 54.11 for second place.
400 Medley Relay: Behrens was just ahead of the pack when she finished the back, and Maxwell and Kuhlke left enough room for Miller’s anchor leg to blow away the field in 3:36.20 … the school record was also more than four seconds better than the previous BIG EAST record.
–ND–