March 21, 2005
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame finished tied with the University of Tennessee for 24th place with 32 points in the 2005 NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships, which wrapped up Saturday evening at the Boilermaker Aquatic Center. The sixth top-25 result for the Irish in the last nine years – and third-highest point total in program history – came as a result of strong performances from fifth-year senior diver Meghan Perry-Eaton (Brandon, Fla./Bloomingdale H.S.) and sophomore swimmer Katie Carroll (Toledo, Ohio/Notre Dame Academy).
Notre Dame, which finished the season as the first team receiving votes outside of the top 25 in the College Swimming Coaches Association (CSCAA) dual-meet national rankings, has scored points in 10 consecutive NCAA meets, finishing no worse than 37th since 1996. The top Irish performance was an 18th-place finish (74.5 points) by the 2000 team, while the ’02 squad was 19th (52 points). Those were the only teams to score more points than this year’s squad.
Perry-Eaton scored 16 points in the meet for the second year in a row, taking fifth in one-meter diving and 15th off the three-meter springboard. She was named an All-American off the lower board for the second time in as many years, while earning honorable-mention accolades in three-meter action. Her one-meter finish is the second-best ever by an Irish diver in the meet (behind only her third-place result in ’04), while her performance off the higher board was a career-best placing.
Carroll scored the other 16 Irish points, finishing sixth in the 400-yard individual medley and 14th in the 200 IM. The former result was the second-best finish ever by a Notre Dame swimmer in the meet, and it made her an All-American for the first time in her career. Carroll’s 200 IM swim garnered her honorable-mention accolades. She also finished 21st in the 200-yard butterfly. Carroll turned in lifetime bests in both the 400 IM and 200 fly, while the former mark (4:13.56) is a Notre Dame record in yards competition.
Junior Christel Bouvron (Singapore, Singapore/Raffles Girls’ Secondary School) made her NCAA Championships debut and finished 22nd in the 200 butterfly and 41st in the 100 fly.
The University of Georgia snapped Auburn’s streak of three consecutive national championships, taking first with 609.5 points. The Tigers were second with 492, while Arizona (440), Florida (355), and Stanford (313) rounded out the top five. Only six northern schools finished ahead of Notre Dame: Indiana (9th, 112 points), Wisconsin (11th, 107), Penn State (13th, 87), Michigan (T-14th, 84), Purdue (17th, 59), and Iowa (23rd, 36). Two BIG EAST Conference teams were among the top 30, as Rutgers ended up 29th with 13 points. A total of 39 schools scored points in the meet.
Notre Dame featured six seniors on its roster this season. The class of 2005 combined for 10 BIG EAST titles, five invitations to the NCAA Championships, and five All-America accolades. Nonetheless, the Irish will return their top competitor in all 14 individual swimming events next season. Additionally, four of the top five Notre Dame performers in every swimming event but two (both breaststrokes) will be back for the 2005-06 season.
For complete results of the NCAA Championships, please see http://www.ncaasports.com/swimming/womens/championship-results/2005/d1.