Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website

Notre Dame Women's Swimming And Diving Upsets No. 8 Michigan To Finish Perfect Dual Meet Season

Jan. 29, 2000

Complete Results in PDF Format

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The 23rd-ranked University of Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving team won 11 of 16 events to post its first-ever win over eighth-ranked University of Michigan Saturday at Rolfs Aquatic Center. With the win, the Irish finished its 1999-2000 dual-meet campaign with a perfect 10-0 record, while improving to 1-4 all-time against the Wolverines. Notre Dame’s victory also is its second over a ranked team in the last week, having defeated 11th-ranked Northwestern at Notre Dame last Saturday.

The Irish were led by triple-event winner sophomore Kelly Hecking (Rutherford, N.J.), who won both backstroke events and was a member of the winning 200 medley relay squad (1:45.85). Three Notre Dame swimmers won two events each, including senior Elizabeth Barger (Littleton, Colo.), who earned victories as a member of the winning 200 medley relay squad and the 100 butterfly (56.31). Junior Carrie Nixon (Ouray, Colo.) recorded first-place finishes in the 200 medley relay and the 50 freestyle (23.68), while junior Kristen Van Saun (Lawrence, Kan.) swept the distance freestyle events with victories in the 1000 (10:09.26) and the 500 freestyle (4:57.75).

In the diving events, senior Gina Ketelhohn (Brown Deer, Wis.) won both the one and three-meter competitions, posting a school-record score of 283.12 on the one-meter board. Ketelhohn’s score beat the previous Irish record of 282.08 set by Heather Mattingly in October of 1998.

Michigan was led by Shannon Shakespeare, who won three events including the 100 breaststroke, the 100 freestyle and was a member of the first place 200 freestyle relay team.

The Irish will take three weeks off to prepare for the 2000 BIG EAST championships, February 17-19, in Uniondale, N.Y.