Feb. 20, 2008
EAST MEADOW, N.Y. – With the first session finished, the Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving team is in first place with 111 points after two top relay finishes and two point scorers in the 1-meter diving competition at the 2008 BIG EAST Swimming & Diving Championships at the Nassau County Aquatics Center.
The night’s competition was highlighted by a school-record breaking performance in the 200-medley relay. The relay squad of Caroline Johnson, Sam Maxwell, Amywren Miller and Christa Riggins clocked in with a time of 1:40.84, knocking of the previous school record of 1:41.91 set in 2006 at the BIG EAST Championship.
The time was good enough for a second-place finish in what proved to be a very close race. West Virginia took the win in the race, only edging the Irish by .04 as they finished with a time of 1:40.80.
In the earlier relay race the Irish again finished second in what was another exciting race. Notre Dame was in third for nearly the entire race until on the last leg, Riggins closed a half of pool lead over West Virginia to take the second place finish from the Mountaineers. Notre Dame finished with a time of 7:17.35 in the effort that also included Megan Farrell, Lauren Sylvester and Claire Hutchinson.
The final event of the evening was the 1-meter diving. Earlier in the day prelims were completed with three Irish athletes making it to the finals including Natalie Stitt, Heidi Grossman and Tara Hyer. Stitt finished in third for Notre Dame to earn points with a score of 240.50. Teammate Hyer was close behind with a fifth-place finish for points, coming in with a score of 239.50, moving up her eighth-place ranking after prelims. Grossman finished eighth after finals with a score of 213.60.
The Irish are in good position to claim a 12th-consecutive BIG EAST title with the first-place standings after day one with 111 points. In second is Pittsburgh with 97 points and Connecticut sits in third with 80 points. Tomorrow’s competition kicks off at 10 a.m. (ET) with prelims and is followed up with the finals in the afternoon.
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