Oct. 29, 2008
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – After dropping its first dual meet of the 2008-09 season last week at USC, the Notre Dame men’s swimming and diving team returns to the Rolfs Aquatic Center to take on BIG EAST Conference rival Pittsburgh Friday (Oct. 31) at 5 p.m. (ET). The Irish (0-1) are receiving votes in the latest CollegeSwimming.com dual meet poll.
“This is one of great dual-meet rivalries in the BIG EAST and we look forward to it every year,” Irish head coach Tim Welsh said. “Pittsburgh is a well-coached team and very competitive. We enjoy going head-to-head with them and we’re excited to have the team in our pool.”
Last season, Notre Dame was ranked 17th in the nation when it faced the Panthers. The Irish won nine events – including eight individual victories – en route to a 169-131 win at Trees Pool in Pittsburgh. John Lytle and MacKenzie LeBlanc each shelved a pair of wins as Lytle was also part of the winning 200 Free Relay squad to help give the Irish their first dual meet win of the season. Notre Dame also enjoyed its fourth straight win over the Panthers after dropping the first seven meetings between the two programs. The Irish are 4-4 against Pittsburgh under Welsh.
Daniel Rave, LeBlanc and Lytle each won individual events for the Notre Dame this past Saturday despite a 159.5-126.5 Irish loss to USC. Lytle actually tied for first in the 200 Free (1:39.88) with USC’s Zoltan Povazsay, who represented his native Hungary in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Live stats will be available at UND.com for the matchup with Pittsburgh. For up-to-the-minute results, sign up for IRISH ALERT text messaging services at UND.com.
–ND–