Oct. 20, 2005
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s swimming and diving team is ranked 19th in the opening College Swim Coaches Association (CSCAA) Dual Meet Rankings for the 2005-06 season. This is the highest-ever ranking for the Fighting Irish, who reached as high as 21st in the polls last season. Notre Dame opens its dual meet schedule on Friday night when Texas A&M visits the Rolfs Aquatic Center for a 6:30 p.m. showdown.
Auburn, the three-time defending NCAA champion, tops the rankings followed by Stanford, Florida, Michigan and Arizona in the top-five.
The Fighting Irish are coming off a monumental year in the history of the program. Notre Dame captured the school’s first-ever men’s BIG EAST swimming and diving championship in 2004-05 and also sent a student-athlete to the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships for just the second time in program history. Overall, the Irish went 10-2 in dual meet action.
Notre Dame’s success did not go unnoticed as the team found its name in the CSCAA Dual Meet Rankings for the first time ever during the ’04-’05 campaign. The Irish cracked the rankings at No. 21 on Nov. 17, 2004 and would remain in the poll for the majority of the season. A win over No. 17 Pittsburgh on Nov. 12 propelled the Fighting Irish into the rankings. That was the program’s first win over a nationally-ranked team.
Similar success for the Irish is expected during the 2005-06 campaign as the Irish return 27 monogram winners to this year’s squad. Headlining that group is junior Tim Kegelman (Yorktown, Va.) (fly/IM/free), who became the first Notre Dame swimmer to reach the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships as he did so last season. Also bolstering a strong Irish squad are seniors Doug Bauman (Erie, Pa.) (back/free), Jamie Lutkus (Granger, Ind.) (IM/breast), Tim Randolph (Crown Point, Ind.) (free/breast), Steve Shomberger (Spotsylvania, Va.) (back/fly) along with junior Ted Brown (Kokomo, Ind.) (fly/IM/free) and sophomores Jay Vanden Berg (Holland, Mich.) (free) and Sam Stoner (Valparaiso, Ind.) (diving).
A date with Texas A&M will get the dual meet season underway for the Fighting Irish on Friday evening. The Aggies placed 15th in the NCAAs one season ago. Texas A&M is unranked in the CSCAA poll, yet the team did receive five votes.
To stay up-to-date on the Notre Dame men’s swimming and diving team, please log on to und.com or call the official Notre Dame athletics hotline at (574) 631-3000.
College Swim Coaches Association (CSCAA)NCAA Division I Swimming & DivingDUAL MEET RANKINGS FOR 2005-2006 SEASON
Rank Team Votes (First-place votes)1 Auburn 198 (7)2 Stanford 1893 Florida 184 (1)4 Michigan 1735 Arizona 1696 California 1607 Texas 1598 Southern Cal 1429 Indiana 13510 Georgia 115t-11 Minnesota 113t-11 Tennessee 11313 Northwestern 11214 Virginia 9515 Purdue 8116 Kentucky 7317 Florida State 6918 Brigham Young 5119 NOTRE DAME 4720 Ohio State 4221 North Carolina 4022 Wisconsin 34t-23 Alabama 18t-23 Missouri 1825 Arizona State 17
Teams Receiving VotesPenn State 15Georgia Tech 10UNLV 7West Virginia 6SMU 5Texas A&M 5Harvard 3NC State 1Washington 1