Nov. 20, 2015
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving team fared well on the first day of the Purdue Invitational. The Irish were led by Catherine Mulquin, who scored her first B-cut of the season in the 50 free during the prelims session in 22.90.
“We had some really good stuff happen today,” head coach Mike Litzinger says. “The whole mission in competing at this meet is to swim faster than we have all year long, and put up some times that we can head into the ACC Championships with that will put us in good position for seeding.
“The girls are responding to the challenge; I like to see that,” he continues. “It’s been a bit of a hard road for them this fall, with all the different types of training we’ve thrown at them with boxing, weight lifting, yoga, and so on. So to come here with a few days off, having rested up for the meet, they feel fresh – and they took advantage of that. We saw numerous season-best times today, and many of the girls swam their lifetime bests today too. So it’s all exciting to be witness to.”
Other top individual performers throughout the day included Katie Miller, who placed third in the 200 IM (2:02.13) and Catherine Galletti, who also took third in the 50 free (23.03). Perhaps the brightest moment of the day came in the evening finals session, when the 200 free relay A-team lineup of Mulquin, Galletti, Sofia Revilak and Ella Moynihan clinched first in a time of 1:32.00. In the 400 medley relay to close out the evening, Mulquin and Galletti joined forces with Revilak and junior Danielle Margheret to take second, touching in at 3:39.27.
“We’re excited for what happened today, but every event is going to hold something different for our team,” admits Litzinger. “A lot of people swam different events that they don’t normally swim today, for example, Alice Treuth in the 500 free. Tomorrow, she gets the chance to swim the 100 back, a more traditional event for her. So tomorrow, there are chances for girls to return to swimming their traditional events. The morning session, the third session of this six-session meet, is going to be a big one for us.”
In the women’s 3-meter diving event, Lindsey Streepey placed fourth (311.15) while Deidre Worth finished sixth (278.95). Both girls will dive again tomorrow in the 1-meter competition.
The Irish start up again tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. ET, for day two of the Purdue Invitational.
— ND —
Lizzie Mikes serves as Media Services Coordinator at the University of Notre Dame. A 2013 graduate of Johnson & Wales University, she oversees credential management and is the athletic communications director for Fighting Irish men’s and women’s swimming and diving. She has assisted with numerous NCAA postseason events hosted by Notre Dame, and is heavily involved in the day-to-day tasks of the athletic communications office.