LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Individual wins were the name of the swimming game Friday for the #18/23 Irish men and women. While both squads fell to #9/13 Louisville, senior Abbie Dolan and freshman Coleen Gillilan each posted three individual victories, while the squads combined for 10 total NCAA B-Cut times.
Final Scores | Complete Results
- Men: Notre Dame – 132, Louisville – 168
- Women: Notre Dame – 138, Louisville – 162
After narrowly missing a win in the women’s 200 Medley Relay by .19 seconds and the men’s relay by .59 seconds, the Irish rebounded quickly with four back-to-back wins in early individual events. After junior Lindsay Stone placed second in the women’s 1650 Free with an NCAA B-Cut time of 16:24.72, freshman Jack Hoagland thundered to a big win in the men’s 1650 Free with a 14:56.54 B-Cut time, vaulting him into the Notre Dame record books as the second-best performer in that event in program history, trailing only junior Zach Yeadon. In the same event, freshmen Will Barao (15:13.55) and Luke Thornbrue (15:17.41) earned B-Cut times as well, placing third and fourth, respectively.
Notre Dame swept both 200 Free events, with Dolan immediately following Hoagland’s 1650 Free win with one of her own, emerging victorious with a B-Cut 1:46.98 time. Sadler McKeen added on with a winning time of 1:36.56. Junior Carly Quast rounded out the four-event winning streak with a 54.49 in the women’s 100 Back.
Senior Jack Montesi just missed a win in the men’s 100 Back by .01 seconds to take second, while Gillilan earned her first win of the night in the women’s 100 Breast, clocking in with an NCAA B-Cut time of 1:00.60, a new personal record. Sophomore Luciana Thomas marked down a B-Cut time of 1:59.08 to earn second place in the women’s 200 Fly, while Dolan added her second with of the night in the women’s 100 Free, posting a 50.09.
The Irish women continued their success, with sophomore Bayley Stewart and Quast putting together a one-two punch in the women’s 200 Back, marking down times of 1:58.54 and 1:59.50, respectively.
Sophomore Josh Bottelberghe glided to a win in the men’s 200 Breast with an even 2:00.00, immediately followed by Dolan’s third win of the night, this one coming in the women’s 500 Free with a 4:49.43. Yeadon followed with his first win of the night, posting a B-Cut time of 4:22.61 in the men’s 500 Free. Gillilan marked down her second win Friday with a B-cut 52.84 in the women’s 100 Fly and her third win with yet another B-Cut time of 1:59.36 in the women’s 200 IM.
“Abbie’s and Coleen’s performances continued to bolster our team,” Notre Dame head coach Mike Litzinger offered after the meet, adding that the two contributed six of the Irish women’s eight wins. As a whole, the Notre Dame women won half of the meet’s events, but fell short of the necessary score total.
Closing out the night, the Irish men’s 400 Free Relay team of Yeadon, freshman Cason Wilburn, senior Aaron Schultz and McKeen touched the wall first for a 2:57.67 victory.
In a challenging meet, Litzinger noted the impact of veteran swimmers on the men’s side proving monumental in the squad’s persistence.
“I’m very proud of the leadership that Aaron Schultz, Jack Montesi, Zach Yeadon and Sadler McKeen are showing,” the Irish coach noted. “They kept the men in the meet all evening.”
On the diving end, junior Kelly Straub put together an impressive showing against Louisville’s attack, some of the top talent in the ACC. Straub scored a second-place 283.73 in the women’s 1-meter event, a mere .08 points off Louisville’s Molly Fears. In the women’s 3-meter event, Straub scored a 312.68 to place third in the field. The Irish men worked to keep up with the Cardinal divers, with sophomore David Petrison leading the Irish with a fourth-place finish in the men’s 3-meter (290.70) and a fifth-place finish in the 1-meter (272.18).
“Overall, it was one heck of a meet,” Litzinger explained. “It is a preview of how tough the ACC is.”
The Irish will return home to prepare for next weekend’s two-day meet against ACC foe Pittsburgh, beginning Friday at 4 p.m. ET.