Feb. 16, 2005
The University of Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving team (6-3) will look for his its ninth consecutive title in the BIG EAST Championships, slated for Wednesday through Saturday in the Nassau County Aquatic Center in East Meadow, N.Y. After taking third place in their initial year in the conference, the Irish have won each of the last eight BIG EAST meets, with every victory coming by at least 113.5 points. In 2004, Notre Dame won seven events in a 174.5-point win over Rutgers (runner-up in each of the last three years).
IRISH IN THE BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIPS: Notre Dame will compete in the BIG EAST Championships for the 10th consecutive season since joining the league in 1995-96. The Irish finished a close third in their first appearance in the meet, just 59 points behind champion Villanova (and 56.5 behind runner-up Miami). In 1997, Notre Dame snapped the Wildcats’ five-year stranglehold on the title with a 113.5-point victory over runner-up Miami. Since then, the Irish have won each BIG EAST meet.
The last two seasons have seen the two smallest margins of victory since that initial Notre Dame triumph. In 2003, the Irish won seven events and scored 730 points, 150 clear of runner-up Rutgers (second in each of the last three years and four of the last five). Last year, Notre Dame again won seven titles and scored 725.5 points to finish 174.5 ahead of the Scarlet Knights. Leading the way in 2004 were current fifth-year senior Meghan Perry-Eaton (Brandon, Fla./Bloomingdale H.S.) and sophomore Katie Carroll (Toledo, Ohio/Notre Dame Academy), who each went unbeaten in individual action and were named the BIG EAST Championships Most Outstanding Diver and Most Outstanding Swimmer, respectively. Perry-Eaton, who copped the honor for the second straight year after becoming the first non-University of Miami diver since 1996 to win a BIG EAST title (1-meter springboard) in 2003, took first in both springboard events by more than 40 points. Carroll became just the fourth rookie from any school to win three individual BIG EAST titles, taking first in the 100-yard freestyle, 100 butterfly, and 200 individual medley (meet record 2:00.65). Marie Labosky, a 2004 graduate, also won the 400 IM for the second straight year, while the 200 free relay squad of current senior Katie Eckholt (Omaha, Neb./Marian H.S.), ’04 graduate Danielle Hulick, current sophomore Rebecca Grove (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Yorktown H.S.), and Carroll also finished first.
The Irish also had eight runner-up results in 2004: Hulick in the 50 free, Labosky in the 200 back, current junior Courtney Choura (Bridgeville, Pa./Oakland Catholic H.S.) in the 100 breast, ’04 grad Lisa Garcia in the 200 fly and 200 IM, as well as the 400 and 800 free relays and the 400 medley relay.
Notre Dame’s Caiming Xie also was named the BIG EAST Women’s Diving Coach of the Year for the second time, while Chuck Warner of Rutgers was tabbed the league’s top swimming coach. Irish mentor Bailey Weathers has earned the award five times: 1997, ’98, ’99, 2001, and ’02.
The Irish were in action against two BIG EAST Conference foes earlier this season. Notre Dame won 11 of 16 events to beat Pittsburgh 172-128 in dual-meet action on Nov. 12 in the Rolfs Aquatic Center. West Virginia then took fifth in the Notre Dame Invitational in December, while four Irish student-athletes (three divers, one swimmer) piled up enough points to take 12th, while the majority of the team went to the Georgia Fall Invitational.
In nine years of competition, Notre Dame has 70 first-place finishes, an average of just under eight per meet (out of 20 events). The Irish, who have taken first in every event on the program, have won at least seven races in each of the last seven years and have not won fewer than six in any of their title-winning performances. In 2000, Notre Dame was first in 14 events, after winning 10 in ’98.
In addition to Carroll, two former Irish swimmers took titles in all three of their individual events in one BIG EAST meet. Linda Gallo (’98) won the 200 free, 500 free, and 1650 free in her final season en route to being named the league’s Swimmer of the Year, while current assistant coach Carrie Nixon (’02) won the 50 free, 100 free, and 100 fly in 2000, also being tabbed the BIG EAST’s top swimmer. Kelly Hecking (’02) is the only Notre Dame student-athlete ever to go undefeated in the BIG EAST meet in a four-year career in an event, having won the 100 backstroke in 1999, 2000, ’01, and ’02. She also is the only competitor in conference history to four-peat in a backstroke race. Nixon and Elizabeth Barger (’00) each posted three victories in a race in their careers. The former won the 50 free in 1999, 2000, and ’02, while Barger dominated the 100 fly from 1997-99. Six other times an Irish swimmer collected two titles in one event. In addition to Labosky, Hecking won the 200 back in 2000 and ’01, while Nixon took the 100 free in 1999 and 2000, Suddarth was first in the 200 breast in 1998 and ’99, and Erin Brooks (’97) won both the 100 and 200 backstroke in 1996 and ’97, her only two years competing in the BIG EAST Championships.
Hecking’s seven individual BIG EAST titles are ninth-most by a conference competitor, while Nixon’s six are tied for 10th on that list. Those two have been the most prolific Irish swimmers in the race, capturing 19 and 18 total titles (including relays), respectively. Nixon holds the edge with 24 all-BIG EAST honors during her career, while Hecking has 23 and Suddarth’s 10 in individual events are a program best.
Notre Dame’s relays have traditionally been a strength in the BIG EAST Championships, finishing first on 22 occasions. The Irish have been particularly dominant in the medley relays, winning both the 200 and 400 on six occasions, but coming up empty in 2003 and `04. In the freestyle races, the Irish have five victories in the last six years in the 200 (all but 2001) and have won the 800 three times (1997, ’98, 2000) and the 400 twice (2000 and ’03).
Seven of the current BIG EAST Championships records were set by Notre Dame. In addition to Carroll’s 200 IM mark, Suddarth remains the fastest swimmer in conference history in both breaststroke events, setting the current records in 1998 – 1:02.07 in the 100 and 2:13.99 in the 200. Those are the oldest BIG EAST records still on the books. Nixon set the meet record in the 50 free in 2000 (22.58), while Perry-Eaton’s score of 309.20 in 2003 is tops since the current six-dive format for one-meter diving was adopted in 2001. A pair of 2002 Irish relays have records to their credit. Hecking, Allison Lloyd, Lisa D’Olier, and Nixon went 3:40.98 in the 400 medley, while Eckholt, Nixon, Hulick, and Hecking set the mark of 1:32.01 in the 200 free.
Notre Dame saw 23 of its 29 swimmers and three of five divers post qualifying marks for the BIG EAST Championships, but a new conference rule prohibited any squad from entering more than 23 athletes (with divers counting as one-half). In order to gain entrance to the conference meet, one must achieve an “A” qualifying time in at least one event. Once in the field, a student-athlete may participate in up to two additional events in which she has achieved a “B” qualifying time. In relay competition, each team with at least four qualifiers is eligible to enter one team in every race that can consist of any quartet.
BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIPS SPORTS NEW FORMAT: The 2005 BIG EAST Championships will feature a first in the meet’s history: four days of action. The championships will begin this year not on Thursday, but on Wednesday evening at 5 p.m. (EST) with a session featuring one-meter diving, the 800-yard freestyle relay, and the 200 medley relay. Thursday through Saturday will proceed in the traditional format (with preliminaries sessions starting at 10:30 a.m. and the finals commencing at 6 p.m.) except that Thursday and Friday will not see their evening sessions open with relays.
SCOUTING THE ELITES IN THE BIG EAST FIELD: The field for this year’s BIG EAST Championships includes two swimmers and one diver who qualified for last year’s NCAA meet, as well as the defending champions in eight events. Current Rutgers junior All-America backstroker Kelly Harrigan won at both distances in the BIG EAST meet and then finished fifth in the 200 back at the NCAAs. She set the conference record in the race in ’04 (1:55.76) after setting the 100 back mark in ’03 (54.55). Harrigan is the only student-athlete in the BIG EAST – man or woman – who has already qualified for this year’s NCAA Championships, as she boasts an NCAA “A” cut in the 200 back (1:57.87). She also has “B” cuts in the 500 free, 100 back, and 100 fly, meaning she will be eligible to swim those at the NCAAs, slated for March 17-19 at Purdue. Notre Dame fifth-year diver Meghan Perry-Eaton (Brandon, Fla./Bloomingdale H.S.), the BIG EAST Championships Most Outstanding Diver in 2003 and ’04 and the winner of both springboard events last season, qualified for last year’s NCAA meet and took third in one-meter action. Irish sophomore Katie Carroll (Toledo, Ohio/Notre Dame Academy), the 2004 BIG EAST Championships Most Outstanding Swimmer, won three races last year (100 free, 100 fly, 200 IM) and then was honorable mention All-America in the 200 IM and 400 IM at the NCAAs. The other returning champ from last year’s BIG EAST meet is Villanova sophomore Jenny Somerville, who took first in the 1,650 free in 2004.
IRISH BIG EAST LINEUP: Listed below are the events in which each of the 26 Notre Dame qualifiers are eligible to compete in the BIG EAST Championships, along with their top-16 seedings based on the preliminary swimming psych sheet compiled by the conference last week. Each competitor can swim in only three individual races and will be scratched down to that number. The Irish also will field relay teams in the 200 free, 400 free, 800 free, 200 medley, and 400 medley, though the combinations for those are as yet undetermined. No student-athlete may compete in more than four relays.
* Ann Barton – 200 IM (13th), 400 IM (3rd), 100 fly, 200 free, 100 back (15th), 200 back (5th), 200 fly (10th)
* Kelli Barton – 500 free, 200 IM (13th), 400 IM, 100 breast, 1650 free (8th), 200 breast (4th)
* Kelly Battle – 200 IM, 400 IM, 100 free, 200 fly
* Christel Bouvron – 500 free, 100 fly (3rd), 200 free, 100 free, 200 fly (1st)
* Noémie Brand – 200 IM, 100 back (11th), 200 back (15th), 100 free
* Morgan Bullock – 500 free, 400 IM, 200 free, 100 back, 1650 free, 200 back, 100 free
* Natalie Burke – 200 IM, 100 breast (7th), 200 breast (10th)
* Katie Carroll – 200 IM (1st), 400 IM (2nd), 100 fly (6th), 200 free (10th), 100 back, 100 free (6th), 200 fly (5th)
* Courtney Choura – 200 IM, 100 breast (11th), 200 breast (15th)
* Katie Eckholt – 50 free, 200 free, 100 free
* Kiley Gooch – 200 IM, 400 IM (12th), 100 back, 200 back (13th), 200 fly
* Kayla Graham – 500 free, 200 free, 100 free
* Rebecca Grove – 50 free (12th), 200 free (14th), 100 back (9th), 200 back, 100 free
* Katie Guida – 50 free, 100 back, 100 free
* Georgia Healey – 200 IM, 50 free, 100 breast (6th), 100 free, 200 breast (6th)
* Katie Hopkins – 200 IM, 400 IM, 100 fly, 100 breast, 200 fly, 200 breast (14th)
* Tara Hyer – 1-meter diving, 3-meter diving
* Caroline Johnson – 50 free (4th), 200 free (8th), 100 back (2nd), 200 back (10th), 100 free (10th)
* Ellen Johnson – 500 free (2nd), 100 fly, 200 free (5th), 100 back, 200 back (6th), 100 free
* Meghan Perry-Eaton – 1-meter diving, 3-meter diving
* Kristen Peterson – 50 free, 100 back (12th), 200 back (7th), 100 free
* Laura Rings – 1-meter diving, 3-meter diving
* Laura Stafford – 200 IM, 400 IM, 200 free, 100 back, 100 free
* Jessica Stephens – 200 IM (3rd), 400 IM (5th), 100 fly (2nd), 100 breast (5th), 100 free, 200 breast (1st)
* Abby Strang – 500 free, 400 IM, 1650 free (7th)
* Brooke Taylor – 200 IM, 400 IM (15th), 100 fly, 200 fly (7th)
IRISH HEAD COACH: Head coach Bailey Weathers is in his 10th year at the helm of the Irish program. During his tenure, Notre Dame has won eight consecutive BIG EAST Conference crowns, posted an 86-20 (.811) record in dual meets, and he has been named conference coach of the year five times. He is one of just five coaches ever to win eight consecutive BIG EAST championships in any sport. Weathers has coached 17 different competitors to All-America honors while at Notre Dame and over 30 student-athletes to 70 BIG EAST titles. He also has coached 18 swimmers to 18 BIG EAST Championships records and every school record has been broken under his tenure. He has coached seven College Swimming Coaches Association of America All-Academic selections and 12 honorable mention academic All-Americans. Before coming to Notre Dame, Weathers coached at South Carolina, where he was a three-time Metro Conference Coach of the Year and had two top-12 NCAA finishes. Before South Carolina, he was at Southern Illinois where he was named the 1986 NCAA Division I Coach of the Year after placing fifth at the NCAA meet. He also has been an assistant coach at the University of Texas and Indiana University, and coaching the Mission Aurora Swim Club in Colorado from 1990-95.
IRISH HEAD DIVING COACH: Caiming Xie is in his 10th season as the head diving coach at Notre Dame for both the and women’s and men’s teams. During his tenure, he has been responsible for the development of the only two diving All-Americans in Irish history – Heather Mattingly and Meghan Perry-Eaton (Brandon, Fla./Bloomingdale H.S.). Mattingly earned All-America mention three times, highlighted by an eighth-place finish in the 2002 NCAAs. The next season, Perry-Eaton became the first Notre Dame diver in history to win a BIG EAST Conference title when she defeated Miami’s Katie Beth Bryant to take the one-meter competition. She also was named the 2003 BIG EAST Championships Most Outstanding Diver after placing second in the three-meter event. The then-junior went on to place ninth at the 2003 NCAA meet on the one-meter board. This season, she followed that up with another league Most Outstanding Diver award, sweeping the springboard events. Last year, Perry-Eaton became the first Notre Dame diver ever to win a title in the NCAA Zone C Championships. She currently has won the three-meter competition in 21 consecutive dual meets. On the men’s side, Caiming has coached the top two divers in Notre Dame history: Herb Huesman and Andy Maggio . He has been named his conference’s top diving coach on four occasions, including in the BIG EAST in 1999 and 2004. Caiming also has a great deal of international coaching experience, serving as diving coach for the Chinese Olympic and national team from 1977-90, being recognized as the Chinese National Diving Coach of the Year twice (1986 and ’87). His divers have won a number of medals in international events, including a gold in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain by Sun Shu-Wei.
IRISH RECEIVING VOTES IN CSCAA NATIONAL RANKINGS: After losing to #17 Michigan and beating a previously-undefeated Oakland team in a two-week span, Notre Dame fell from 25th in the College Swimming Coaches Association of America National Dual Meet Rankings to the first team receiving votes in the latest poll, released Feb. 8. Tennessee jumped from being that first unranked team all the way to 22nd, while the Irish have 13 points, nine behind Purdue and Northwestern, who are tied for 24th. The Irish were 23rd in the first poll of the season, but they dropped a spot after losing to then-#21 Arizona State and then-#25 Purdue in a triangular meet. Wins in a triangular with Pittsburgh and Michigan State then pushed the Irish back to 21st in mid-November, and they stayed in that position until dropping to 25th on Jan. 27 after beating unranked Illinois by just two points.
IRISH MOVING UP THE CHARTS IN BIG EAST HISTORY: The Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving team has won eight consecutive conference titles (1997-current) and could become the first team in any sport to win nine BIG EAST championships since 1995-96, the year the Irish joined the league. In addition, Notre Dame is inching closer to the all-time conference mark for consecutive titles. The Pittsburgh men’s swimming and diving program holds the record at 10, winning from 1983-92, while the Panther women won nine straight titles from 1983-91. Here is the list for most consecutive BIG EAST titles:
10 – Pittsburgh men’s swimming and diving (’83-’92)
9 – Pittsburgh women’s swimming and diving (’83-’91)
9 – Connecticut women’s basketball (’94-’02)
8 – Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving (’97-active)
8 – Boston College men’s tennis (’81-’88)
DUAL-MEET DOMINANCE: Notre Dame finished with a 6-3 dual meet record, with the lone defeats coming against #17 Michigan, #21 Arizona State, and #25 Purdue. Over the past six seasons, the Irish hold a 53-7 (.883) dual-meet record, including 10-0 campaigns in 1999-2000 and 2001-02. In eight years as the Irish head coach, Bailey Weathers has led Notre Dame to an 86-20 (.811) record in dual meets.
NCAA UPDATE: The 2005 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships will take place March 17-19 at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. Heading into the BIG EAST meet, two Irish swimmers have posted a total of seven NCAA “B” times, but none have hit an “A” time, which assures a student-athlete of a spot in the meet. It is still possible to get an invitation to the NCAAs without an “A” time, but it depends on other “B” times posted across the country. Sophomore Katie Carroll (Toledo, Ohio/Notre Dame Academy) and freshman Caroline Johnson (Springfield, Mo./Glendale H.S.) – have notched NCAA “B” cuts. In the very first race of the first meet of the 2004-05 season, Carroll – who broke the Notre Dame record and finished 14th in the NCAA meet last year – notched a “B” cut of 4:22.93 in the 400 individual medley on Oct. 1 against Evansville. An injury caused her to miss nearly two months of action after that meet, but she then turned in a “B” cut in the 200 IM at Michigan on Jan. 28. Johnson turned in a “B” cut in the 100 backstroke, taking third in the Georgia Fall Invitational last month in a time of 55.93.
PERRY-EATON POSTING ANOTHER SEASON OF DOMINATION: Fifth-year senior diver Meghan Perry-Eaton (Brandon, Fla./Bloomingdale H.S.) has been nearly unbeatable in her final two collegiate campaigns. Last season, she was defeated just one time before the NCAA Zone C Championships (going undefeated in three-meter action) before winning the one-meter competition in that meet and then taking third at the NCAAs. In 2004-05, she has again been impressive, taking first in 17 of the 18 competitions she has entered. Perry-Eaton was first off both boards in the Notre Dame Invitational (her third title in a row in one-meter action), while also registering double dual-meet victories against Evansville, Arizona State, Pittsburgh, Michigan State, Bowling Green, and Michigan. Her lone blemish came off the one-meter board against Purdue on Oct. 29, when 2004 Big Ten Diver of the Year Carrie McCambridge came out on top by a score of 308.20-297.55. Perry-Eaton did gain revenge in the three-meter competition, though, winning by more than 30 points and setting a pool record with her score of 327.40. Perry-Eaton finished her career with a 22-meet winning streak in three-meter action in dual meets. The last time she was defeated in a dual meet off the higher board was Nov. 8, 2002, when Michigan State’s Stephanie Anisko edged Perry-Eaton 262.87-261.155. She also finished her career with a 15-meet winning streak in one-meter action in the Rolfs Aquatic Center. In her final home meet, she broke her own one-meter championship pool record with a score of 316.30 and then claimed the only Rolfs record that she did not own, notching the second-highest score in Irish history for a three-meter championship facility record of 576.05.
IRISH AMONG THE NATION’S BEST: The most recent set of CollegeSwimming.com Division I top times, released Feb. 7, featured a number of Notre Dame entries among the top 100 swimmers in each individual event and top 50 relays.
Ann Barton – 73rd in 400 IM (4:24.26); 93rd in 200 back (2:02.93)
Kelli Barton – 93rd in 1650 free (17:07.20)
Christel Bouvron – 44th in 200 fly (2:01.95); 74th in 100 fly (56.16)
Katie Carroll – 55th in 400 IM (4:22.93); 63rd in 200 IM (2:03.75); 79th in 200 fly (2:03.44); 95th in 100 fly (56.44)
Caroline Johnson – 35th in 100 back (55.93)
Ellen Johnson – T-91st in 500 free (4:54.86)
Jessica Stephens – 57th in 200 breast (2:18.31); 68th in 100 fly (56.07); 88th in 400 IM (4:25.76)
Abby Strang – 92nd in 1650 free (17:06.28)
200 free relay – 49th (1:36.36)
400 free relay – 38th (3:28.22)
800 free relay – 31st (7:32.56)
200 medley relay – 47th (1:46.01)
400 medley relay – 36th (3:49.34)
PERRY-EATON, RINGS QUALIFY FOR NCAA ZONE C DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS: Fifth-year senior All-American Meghan Perry-Eaton (Brandon, Fla./Bloomingdale H.S.) and freshman Laura Rings (Gahanna, Ohio/Columbus School for Girls) have qualified for the NCAA Zone C Diving Championships, to be held March 11-12 at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. Perry-Eaton, who was first in the zone meet in one-meter action and sixth off the three-meter board a year ago before taking third at NCAAs off the one-meter, has easily made the qualifying standards in both springboard events. Rings punched her ticket with a performance at the Notre Dame Invitational that saw her finish second to Perry-Eaton in three-meter action with a score of 455.25.
STEPHENS HOLDS TEAM LEAD IN POINTS SCORED: Sophomore Jessica Stephens (Bloomsburg, Pa./Bloomsburg H.S.), the team leader in three events, leads the Irish in points scored this season, having put up 219.7. Her 179 in individual competition rank behind only fifth-year senior diver Meghan Perry-Eaton (Brandon, Fla./Bloomingdale H.S.), who has scored 203 en route to 17 first-place finishes. Caroline Johnson (Springfield, Mo./Glendale H.S.) leads all freshmen and ranks second overall in total points with 213.65, while sophomore Ellen Johnson (Toledo, Ohio/Notre Dame Academy) is fourth with 186.9, and junior Christel Bouvron (Singapore, Singapore/Raffles Girls’ Secondary School) is fifth with 170.4.
IRISH NOTCH ANOTHER PERFECT HOME SEASON: A two-point win over Illinois earlier this month gave Notre Dame its fourth undefeated home record in the last six years. The Irish opened the 2004-05 campaign by beating Evansville in the Rolfs Aquatic Center and then beat both Pittsburgh and Michigan State in a home triangular meet on Nov. 12 before topping the Fighting Illini 183-181. The Irish have posted a 91-26-1 (.775) record at home since the opening of the Rolfs Aquatic Center in 1985. Notre Dame has posted five undefeated seasons and has lost just one meet or fewer at home in every year since 1994-95 (11 consecutive seasons).
KEEPING UP WITH NOTRE DAME SWIMMING & DIVING: For the fastest results of Notre Dame swimming and diving meets, call the Notre Dame Sports Hotline at (574) 631-3000 and choose #7. The hotline provides schedule and results information for all 26 varsity sports and serves as a supplement to the meet previews and recaps provided on the official athletic website, www.und.com. The hotline is the first medium updated with the results of each Notre Dame men’s swimming and diving meet. In addition, media members and fans may be added to the sports information e-mail release list by contacting Bo Rottenborn at Rottenborn.2@nd.edu. He also can provide any needed information about the Irish swimming and diving program.