Nov. 16, 2007
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – By taking the top spot in the first four races en route to claiming titles in 10 of the meet’s 16 events, the University of Notre Dame men’s swimming and diving team was able to pick up its second win of the season Friday at the Rolfs Aquatic Center.
The 171-124 dual meet victory gave the Irish (2-3) their 13th win in a row over Cleveland State, a team that has been one of Notre Dame’s most familiar opponents over the years. In fact, Notre Dame christened competition in the Rolfs Aquatic Center against the Vikings in 1985.
The first meeting between the two schools came in 1969, when Notre Dame pulled out a 72-31 win. Since then – and including today’s win – the Irish are 24-10 all-time and 21-2 under Notre Dame head coach Tim Welsh against the Vikings.
“I thought the most important thing tonight for us was that we got to swim the races we needed to swim,” Welsh noted after the meet. “We have a very large freshman class and we haven’t seen everyone race in all of their events, so it was an excellent meet for us. I thought that those who swam in new events did so very well. I’m very happy with the results tonight.”
In two weeks, the Irish head to Columbus, Ohio, for the Ohio State Invitational. The Buckeyes play host to the event from Nov. 30-Dec. 2.
200 Medley Relay: Kicking things off with a win in the initial relay were Jeff Wood, Ross Moore, Sam Pendergast, and John Lytle … they timed in at 1:32.75 … Notre Dame’s second relay team in the event (Thomas Van Volkenburg, Andrew Hoffman, Eric Swenson, and Danny Lutkus) were fourth, finishing in 1:38.22 … Todd Winchell surfaced ahead out of the turn to take an early advantage for the Viking … that lead was slightly extended to one yard during the breaststroke … Lytle eliminated the deficit with greater speed and distance coming out of the final turn … while the Vikings took second place to the Irish, they also secured third during the anchor leg.
1,000 Free: Michael Sullivan collected the first of his two individual wins with a time of 9:35.05 … the next closest finisher was Andrew MacKay (9:54.97) … after third-place honors went to Khaled Elgamal (9:56.83) of Cleveland State, Robert Kingery (9:59.33) and Daniel Rave (10:13.81) were Notre Dame’s next finishers … MacKay had trailed Elgamal near the 900-yard mark, but reclaimed second-place with a strong surge in the final lap.
200 Free: A first-place finish by MacKenzie LeBlanc came in 1:42.11 … LeBlanc distinguished himself from CSU’s Todd Winchell after the 100-yard mark … Jeff Wood (1:45.54) was third and Steven Brus (1:45.78) was fourth … just behind him was Rob Seery (1:45.79).
100 Back: Three of the top times came from the home squad … Christopher Wills bested the seven-man field with a mark of 52.26 … Joshua Nosal and Bill Bauman tied for second … both stopped the timer at 53.53 … the fourth Notre Dame swimmer in the race, Mitchell Sherman (55.45), was fifth.
100 Breast: After Jakub Dobies (56.96) of the Vikings finished first, Notre Dame’s Pendergast (57.79), Joseph Raycroft (1:01.24), and Swenson (1:01.86) rounded out the field.
200 Fly: Moore was victorious after completing the course in 1:49.54 … fourth-place nods went to Andrew Deters (1:55.91) … checking in at 1:56.18 was Patrick Augustyn, who placed fifth.
50 Free: John Lytle sprinted his way to the gold … he beat CSU’s Stephen Grove by nearly a half-second, wrapping up the race in 21.04 after surfacing from the depths with the lead when coming out of the turn.
100 Free: Van Volkenberg was the first Notre Dame swimmer to finish … he was second with a time of 47.71 … Pat Lloyd (49.24) and Lutkus (49.45) were fourth and fifth, respectively.
200 Back: LeBlanc (1:53.32) topped the pack, and Seery (1:59.41) was two spots behind him … Brus (2:00.44) and Bauman (2:01.14) were the next two finishers for the Irish … after 150 yards, the Vikings’ Androic Zvonimir carried the lead … LeBlanc kept in close pursuit and gained the lead off the final wall.
200 Breast: Dobies won his second race in 2:06.61 for the Vikings … Rave was the fastest swimmer for the Irish … he was third with a time of 2:10.25 … the next three men to wrap up the course were Raycroft (2:10.90), Deters (2:13.70), and MacKay (2:19.11).
500 Free: Going the distance for the win was Sullivan, who did so in 4:40.97 … Nosal (4:42.76) and Wood (4:46.69) soon followed his path … Chrstopher Douville got in on the action with a time of 4:49.46, which was the fourth-quickest time of the heat.
100 Fly: Wills (52.32) was the fastest swimmer for Notre Dame in the event … he was the fourth man to finish the race … Augustyn racked a time of 52.39 for fifth-place.
200 Individual Medley: LeBlanc tore through in 1:55.08 … MacKay soon followed with a 1:56.93 finish … Nosal (1:58.08) and Swenson (2:07.99) completed the field.
200 Free Relay: The quartet of David Anderson, Lloyd, Kingery, and Augustyn punched in at 1:29.43, which was good for the silver.
3-meter Diving: Earning points for Notre Dame was first-place Michael Bulfin (347.30), Sam Stoner (321.08) and third-place finisher Steven Crowe (302.55).
1-meter Diving: The first four finishers were all Irish divers … Stoner (312.30), Eric Lex (311.78), Bulfin (310.92) and Crowe (282.20) paved the way off the board.
–ND–