Oct. 31, 2014
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame men’s swimming and diving team is set to welcome Purdue Saturday, Nov. 1 at 1 p.m. for their first dual meet of the season, held at the Rolfs Aquatic Center. The Irish are 1-0 heading into the meet after an impressive 240-140 win against Olivet Nazarene at the Dennis Stark Relays (recap here).
“What stands out to me about Purdue, is that they always come prepared to race,” head coach Matt Tallman says. “Every race and every dive will be crucial to the overall outcome of this meet, but we have looked good throughout our workouts this fall, and now I’m anxious to see where we are a few weeks after the Stark Relays and our trip to Colorado.”
Joining forces with the women’s team, the first race of the meet will be the 200 medley relay, followed by the 1,000 free and 200 free. Unlike at the Stark Relays, no non-traditional events will be featured this Saturday.
The Boilermakers have not won in South Bend since November of 2010, yet they enter the Saturday matchup with six of the last seven dual-meet wins dating back to 2007. The Saturday matchup will be their second meet in three days, after having competed at Miami (Ohio) Thursday evening.
Having just returned from training at the U.S. Olympic training facilities in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Tallman’s Irish are anxious to put to use what they learned over the fall break excursion.
“It can be lonely on campus during fall break – it’s right after most mid-term exams,” the Irish skipper says. “Our swimmers had the chance to train at altitude, which affects their lung capacity and hopefully enhances their abilities after coming back down to sea level. The divers also had a great chance to train on the same boards at Georgia Tech, which will be used in the ACC Championships while we were in Colorado. Both trips came at a great time in the fall semester for us.”
The Irish have a strong senior presence in the pool with 11 senior swimmers. Among those 11, Kevin Hughes, Zach Stephens and John Williamson have all earned honorable mention All-America accolades previously, and 2013-14 captain Patrick Murphy once again has emerged as a leader on the team.
In addition to his seniors, Tallman has a bevvy of underclassmen talent in the junior and sophomore classes. Amongst the juniors, Matthew Buerger and Bogac Ayhan will compete for a top spot in the medley relay lineups, while Tom Anderson – who swam with the 200 and 800 free relay teams at the 2014 NCAA Championships – leads the way on the sophomore class.
Not to be forgotten, Tallman’s first freshman class as head coach boasts eight swimmers and one diver – all of whom stand ready to make an immediate impact with the Irish.
Live stats will be available as well as on Meet Mobile. On social media, follow the Irish both on Facebook and Twitter, either @NDSwimming or @NDDiving.
Lizzie Mikes,
Media Services Coordinator