Oct. 5, 2007
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – In the 43rd edition of the Dennis Stark Relays, the University of Notre Dame men’s swimming and diving team posted 242 points to top the field en route to claiming the meet title for the 23rd time overall Friday evening at the Rolfs Aquatic Center. The Irish have now won the event on 11 occasions in the last 12 years.
Notre Dame cruised past runner-up Ball State (158), Oakland (156), Valparaiso (118), and Marquette (50), and at one point touched the wall ahead of the pack in seven-straight events.
The opening meet, previously known as the Notre Dame Relays, was renamed in 2004 to honor former Notre Dame head swim¬ming coach Dennis Stark, who is a dedicated servant to the University and community.
“I thought our depth was good, our spirit was good, and that we swam aggressively tonight,” said Irish head coach Tim Welsh. “It was a nice way to start off the season for us.”
Ten of the meet’s 13 events went the way of the Irish, as the squad managed to shatter three meet records. Sophomore John Lytle (Clearfield, Pa./Clearfield Area), sophomore Andrew Hoffman (Ft. Wayne, Ind./Homestead), junior Danny Lutkus (Granger, Ind./Penn), and senior Rob Seery (Garden City, N.Y./Garden City) teamed for a first-place finish in the 300 Free Relay (2:16.83) for a new meet all-time best.
In besting the competition in the 1-meter diving relay (600.75) and 3-meter synchronized event (251.50), senior Sam Stoner (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso) and junior Michael Bulfin (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas) eclipsed the event’s previous top scores to etch their names in the records books.
The tandem of sophomore Andrew Deters (Claremont, Calif./Claremont) and freshman Steven Brus (Davenport, Iowa/Davenport Noth) controlled the 1,000 Free Relay from beginning to end. Deters lead the opening half with a time of 4:41.76, aided by a small surge in the last length. The second half of the race was highlighted by Brus lapping the remaining members of the field, while finishing his portion of the race in 4:44.62 for a combined time of 9:26.38, more than 35 seconds ahead of runner-up Valparaiso.
Freshman Michael Sullivan (Franklin, Mass./Bishop Feehan) joined sophomore MacKenzie LeBlanc (Plano, Texas / Plano East), Seery, and Deters in winning the 800 Free Relay (7:00.57). Senior Eric Swenson (Scotch Plains, N.J./St. Joseph) and junior Daniel Rave (Hannover, Germany) were each part of a pair of winning squads that claimed gold by leading the 400 Breast Relay (3:57.13) and 400 Medley Relay (3:38.17) quartets to victory lane.
Two weeks of preparation lies ahead for Notre Dame before they face Southern California for the first-ever dual meet between the two programs. The first start is slated for 5 p.m. (ET) on Oct. 19 (Friday).
–ND–