NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The Notre Dame Fighting Irish bested the Seminoles of Florida State in both men’s and women’s competitions Friday in their first meet of the season, boosted by solid performances from tenured Irish swimmers and newcomers alike. Notre Dame hosted Florida State Friday in the dual meet. The Irish women finished with a score of 183.5 to the Seminoles’ 116.5, and the Notre Dame men racked up 171 points to Florida State’s 129.
After the visiting Seminoles touched first on men’s and women’s 200 Medley Relays, the Irish came back strong with two first-place finishes in the 1000 Free by Lindsay Stone and Zach Yeadon. Yeadon broke a pool record, finishing with a time of 8:57.69, the fastest time in the NCAA this season.
From there, the Irish attack took shape, as Abbie Dolan and Sadler McKeen brought home wins in the 200 Free, while Bayley Stewart touched the wall first in the women’s 100 Back. Jack Montesi came in second in the men’s 100 Back, just .13 seconds shy of Florida State’s Griffin Alaniz.
Notre Dame extended its lead with multiple top-three finishes in the 100 Breast, and Max Miranda kept the Irish hot with a win in the 200 Fly. Notre Dame women topped the 50 and 100 Free events, with Rachel Wittmer (50) and Abbie Dolan (100) touching the wall first.
Stewart brought home her second victory of the night in the 200 Back, while Montesi did the same on the men’s side. The Irish swept all three top places in the men’s and women’s 500 Free, with Luciana Thomas touching the wall first for the women (4:56.65) and Yeadon nearly breaking another pool record with a time of 4:20.63 (.29 off the record).
The Irish kept gliding with wins on both sides of the 100 Fly, courtesy of Coleen Gillilan and Zach Smith, while Gillilan and Miranda earned the victories in the 200 IM. Finally, Notre Dame swept the 400 Free Relays, culminating in an Aaron Schultz come-from-behind swim to earn a victory for the Irish men, extending the lead over Florida State.
On the other end of the pool, Irish divers Kelly Straub and Austin Flaute won the women’s 1m and men’s 3m contest, respectively. Straub finished second in the women’s 3m competition, and Flaute earned a third-place spot in the men’s 1m.
The Irish won soundly on both sides, with key performances from younger swimmers and other veterans.
“The rookie class, they seemed to show their depth and lived up to their ability. We weren’t quite sure what we were going to get, but we found our identity a little bit,” Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Litzinger said. “Sadler McKeen, Aaron Schultz, Jack Montesi, [and] Max Miranda had improvements tonight, so what we’re doing is starting to go down our depth chart and find out if those athletes are really rising to the occasion.”
The Irish head to Lexington next week to take on Indiana and Kentucky in their first road meet of the season.
“It will be a really good test, another opportunity for us to continue to grow,” Litzinger expressed. “I’m really looking forward to having an opportunity against those quality teams.”