Oct. 6, 2006
NOTRE DAME, Ind.- The Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving team began the 2006-07 season with a 91-point victory at the Dennis Stark Relays on Friday evening, Oct. 6 in the Rolfs Aquatic Center. The women scored 273 points, won 12 of 13 events and set four meet records in the relays setting.
The Dennis Stark Relays were competed for the 42nd time overall and 23rd time for the women. The event is comprised of 11 swimming events and two diving events. The meet provided the seven teams the opportunity to compete and warm up prior to the dual meet season.
The Irish woman dominated the swimming events sweeping all 11 and taking one of the two diving events. The only Irish non-victory was a second place finish in the women’s synchronized diving competition.
Freshmen Stacey Nedrud (Melbourne, Fla./Cocoa Beach), Vivian Healey (New York, N.Y./Stuyvesant) and Megan Farrell (Hopkinton, Mass./Hopkinton) combined with senior Rebecca Grove (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Yorktown) to set a new meet record in the 400-yard relay with a time of 3:54.71.
Healey was also part of the 400-yard breaststroke relay team, along with freshman Pat Duret (Sarasota, Fla./Cardinal Mooney), junior Katie Hopkins (Elicot City, Md./Notre Dame Prep) and senior Jessica Stephens (Bloomsburg, Pa./Bloomsburg) that set a new record in a time of 4:29.00.
The sophomore duo of Casey Wagner (Glenshaw, Pa./Shady Slide) and Claire Hutchinson (Baltimore, Md./McDonough) also set a new record in the 1,000-yard freestyle relay with their time of 9:51.61.
The final women’s record was set in the 400-yard freestyle by foursome of freshmen Gina Mancini (Falmouth, Maine/Falmouth) and Farrell along with seniors Ellen Johnson (Toledo, Ohio/Notre Dame Academy) and Katie Carroll (Toledo, Ohio/Notre Dame Academy) with a time of 3:33.07.
The final women’s scores
1. Notre Dame, 273
2. Ball State, 182
3. Illinois State, 144
4. Oakland, 122
5. Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 108
6. Valparaiso, 70
7. Marquette, 22
Meet Recap:
The foursome of Christa Riggins, Meghan Linnelli, Keri Masterson and Katie Guida won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:37.55.
The 800-yard freestyle team of Zeina Shanata, Casey Wagner, Ellen Johnson and Casey Wagner won the event in a time of 7:33.29.
Jessica Stephens, Ashlee Edgell, Abby Strang and Raine Paulson-Andrews swam a 4:06.24 to win the 400-yard IM.
In a new event to this year’s relays, Caroline Johnson, Zeina Shanata, Meghan Linnelli and Christa Riggins clocked in at 2:34.16 to win the 300-yard relay in what will now be record setting time.
The 400-yard fly relay team of Megan Farrell, Meghan Casey, Mary Grace Godfrey and Keri Masterson were the champions in a time of 3:58.50.
Caroline Johnson, Morgan Bullock, Maggie Behrens and Stacey Nedrud swam a 3:53.94 to claim victory in the 400-yard relay.
The 200-yard medley relay team of Caroline Johnson, Natalie Burke, Raine Paulson-Andrews and Katie Guida swam a 1:49.95 to rank first in the event.
The diving duo of Natalie Stitt and Tiffany Robak were the meet champions in the diving relay with a point total of 470.80.
The Irish synchronized diving duo of Natalie Stitt and Tiffany Robak were runners up with a point total of 203.60 in the synchronized diving competition, only failing 0.75 points short of a complete Irish sweep in all the days events.
The Fighting Irish women return to the pool on Oct. 20 in an intersquad meet. The first Notre Dame dual meet of the season is on Nov. 3 as the Irish welcome in Purdue at 5 p.m.