Feb. 22, 2008
EAST MEADOW, N.Y. – Benefiting from two of the three top scores in the 1-meter diving event at the 2008 BIG EAST Conference Swimming and Diving Championships, the University of Notre Dame men’s squad surged ahead of Louisville to hold the top team score after Thursday’s competition.
The Irish have totaled 300 points over the past two days, leading Louisville (222) and Pittsburgh (166.5) heading into Friday’s events at the Nassau County Aquatic Center. The night’s diving title went to Pittsburgh junior Alex Volovetski, but Notre Dame snagged the next two top scores, with junior Michael Bulfin and freshman Eric Lex finishing second and third with 338.40 and 329.55 points, respectively, in the final round.
Sam Stoner (329.55) was fifth and Steven Crowe (296.30) was sixth off the 1-meter board.
MacKenzie LeBlanc claimed the gold in the 500 Free with an NCAA B-cut time of 4:22.05. That mark also set a new BIG EAST record in the event. Teammate Andrew MacKay took fifth in the 200 Individual Medley by clocking in at 1:50.33 in the final heat.
Fourth-place in the 50 Free went to John Lytle after he timed in with a sprint of 20.47.
The Irish closed evening in the 200 Free Relay and posted a second-place finish in 1:21.94 with a strong team effort by Lytle, Andrew Hoffman, Sam Pendergast, and Joshua Nosal.
Friday’s preliminary heats will begin at 9 a.m. (ET).
–ND–