Sept. 24, 2004

By Bo Rottenborn

The conclusion of the 2002-03 academic year marked the end of the BIG EAST Conference Commissioner’s Trophy competitions, which awarded schools points for their results in all sports and distributed the trophy to the year-end leaders in both men’s and women’s action. From 1985-86 until 1994-95, seven different schools claimed a men’s or women’s Commissioner’s Trophy, but after seven consecutive years of Notre Dame sweeping both categories (the Irish men won eight straight), the league abandoned the competition.

That overwhelming dominance on the fields of play has been a hallmark of Notre Dame’s membership in the BIG EAST, as has a tendency for Irish teams to soar to untold heights on the national scene.

Since becoming a member in 1995-96, the Irish have won 57 BIG EAST titles, including at least one in 16 of the 21 sports that participate in the conference. That total far surpasses any other school over that period.

When Notre Dame joined the league, no school had ever won more than five BIG EAST titles in a single academic year. The Irish captured six championships in 1996-97 and matched that total in 1998-99 before claiming eight titles in 2001-02. In each of the last two campaigns, 2002-03 and 2003-04, Notre Dame has bettered that, with nine championships apiece.

A look at some other numbers gives a further glimpse of Notre Dame’s success in league action over the past nine years. In addition to the 57 championships, Irish squads have captured an additional 30 regular-season titles and have 52 runner-up results, as well. Notre Dame student-athletes have been named the conference’s player of the year on 44 occasions along with 45 tournament MVP awards. Irish mentors have been named the BIG EAST’s top coach on 41 occasions, and Notre Dame competitors have combined for 830 all-league honors, an average of more than four per team per year.

In the four women’s sports that participate in round-robin play – volleyball, lacrosse, softball, soccer, and basketball – Notre Dame has combined for a 456-62 record in regular-season action, a .880 winning percentage. Those teams have never had a losing season in BIG EAST action.

The past nine years has seen almost every Notre Dame team turn in its best season in program history. The Irish have won a trio of national championships (women’s soccer in 1995, women’s basketball in 2001, men’s and women’s fencing in 2003) and had no fewer than 13 teams be ranked among the top five in the nation. Notre Dame has finished in the top 25 of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Directors’ Cup all-sports competition in eight of the last nine years, including five top-15 results.

The greatest example of Notre Dame dominating BIG EAST play is its women’s swimming and diving team. After finishing third in 1996, the squad has compiled one of the most impressive runs in conference history in any sport, capturing each of the last eight titles, all by more than 100 points. Notre Dame’s most impressive performance came in 2000, when the Irish won 14 titles (out of 20 events) and finished with 829.5 points, the most for any team in the meet in 11 years, for a 392.5-point victory over the rest of the field. Only three teams in any sport have won more consecutive BIG EAST titles, and the Irish will try to move within one of the conference record next February. Five-time league coach of the year Bailey Weathers ranks as one of just five coaches in any sport ever to lead his teams to eight straight BIG EAST Championships.

Notre Dame’s streak has been highlighted by 67 event titles – at least six each year – for a total of 70 BIG EAST championships over the past nine years. The most prolific student-athletes were a pair of 2002 graduates, backstroker Kelly Hecking and sprint freestyler Carrie Nixon. Hecking finished her career with an incredible 19 BIG EAST championships (seven individual, 12 relays), while Nixon, who currently serves as the team’s assistant coach, ended up with 18 titles. Hecking is the only swimmer ever to win four consecutive BIG EAST titles in the 100-yard backstroke.

In addition to the impressive list of winners, Notre Dame has seen its student-athletes gain all-BIG EAST honors (for finishing second or third) on 90 other occasions, including 55 runner-up finishes. Hecking and Nixon were both 23-time all-conference performers, while a total of 20 different Irish student-athletes have gained all-BIG EAST accolades five times or more.

Weathers’ five coach-of-the-year honors headline the Irish meet awards. Caiming Xie has been named the conference’s top diving coach twice, including in 2004 for his work with current fifth-year senior Meghan Perry-Eaton, the meet’s Most Outstanding Diver in both of the last two years. Three Irish student-athletes – Linda Gallo (in 1998), Nixon (in 2000), and current sophomore Katie Carroll – have been named the BIG EAST Championships Most Outstanding Swimmer. Last spring, Carroll became just the fourth swimmer in conference history to win three individual events in the meet.

The BIG EAST era has coincided with Notre Dame taking its place as one of the top women’s swimming and diving programs in the country. The Irish have scored points in each of the last nine NCAA Championships after never doing so prior to that. Notre Dame has finished in the top 25 five times during that span, including an all-time best finish of 18th in 2000.

Notre Dame’s women’s soccer team has a league resume nearly as impressive, as it joined Connecticut women’s basketball as the only teams in any sport to win seven consecutive BIG EAST titles beginning in 1995-96. The Irish were 53-3 (.946) in regular-season league action during that span, and they remain only once-beaten in the BIG EAST Championship.

Randy Waldrum has been named the conference’s top coach four times, including in both 2003 and ’04, while former coach Chris Petrucelli earned the honor in 1996. Irish players have captured major awards 12 times, including copping the defensive-player-of-the-year honor six times. Current fifth-year senior Melissa Tancredi has won the honor in both of the last two years. Notre Dame has had 35 selections to the all-BIG EAST first team, with four-time first-teamer Anne Makinen (’01) leading that group.

The first season of BIG EAST competition saw the Irish win their first women’s soccer national championship. Notre Dame followed that up with four appearances in the College Cup (national semifinals and final) in the ensuing five seasons. The Irish have lost more than four games in a campaign just once since becoming a BIG EAST member.

Notre Dame’s women’s volleyball team also has experienced unprecedented success since joining the league. The Irish have compiled a 98-5 (.951) regular-season mark, highlighted by eight titles and winning streaks of 45 and 35 consecutive matches. Notre Dame is 56-0 in BIG EAST regular-season matches in the Joyce Center. The Irish have won seven BIG EAST tournament championships, posting a 17-2 mark in the event and reaching the final every year.

Notre Dame also has dominated the conference volleyball awards. Irish players have been named the BIG EAST Player of the Year on six occasions, and outside hitter Jaimie Lee (’98) is one of only two players in league history to win the award twice. In addition, Debbie Brown has been named the conference’s top coach four times, including in 2003, and the Irish captured the BIG EAST setter-of-the-year honor in two of its three years of existence, while also featuring the ’02 league rookie of the year, current junior outside hitter Lauren Kelbley. In seven instances, Irish players have been named the league tournament’s most outstanding player. Also, Notre Dame student-athletes have garnered 32 all-conference accolades, including 20 first-team honors, which account for more than one-third of the first-team selections during the span.

Upon joining the league, Irish volleyball had never appeared in the top 10 of the national rankings, but the BIG EAST era has seen that change, as the already-established program has reached new heights. Notre Dame cracked the top 10 in both 1995 and ’96 and reentered the top 15 in 2003.

Virtually all of the other Irish teams that participate in the BIG EAST Conference also have had exceptional league results and experienced the best seasons in school history over the past nine years. Notre Dame’s softball team, for example, has compiled a 148-17 (.897) record en route to nine consecutive regular-season championships. The Irish, which have taken the tournament title four times, have made six appearances in the NCAA tournament as members of the BIG EAST after doing so just twice previously. Women’s basketball is another Notre Dame program that has seen its best days after joining the BIG EAST. The Irish reached the Final Four in 1997 and won their first national title in 2001.

The Irish men’s basketball team has seen a resurgence over the past nine years, as it returned to the NCAA Championship in 2001 for the first time in 11 years and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in 2003.

Since becoming a league member, the Irish tennis teams have had tremendous success in the BIG EAST Championship, as well. Both have reached the title match every year, with the women winning five times and the men claiming four titles. The women’s team reached the NCAA quarterfinals in 1996 for its best-ever finish, and it attained a program-high ranking of fifth in 2001. The men’s squad peaked at fourth in 2002, marking its highest midseason ranking ever.

The Irish baseball team became the first BIG EAST squad to win more than 18 league games in a season in 1999 (20-5), then duplicated the feat in both 2001 (22-4, including an 18-game winning streak) and ’04 (20-6). Notre Dame has won each of the last three BIG EAST tournaments, becoming the first school ever to go back-to-back-to-back in the event. The Irish have reached the NCAA tournament in each of the last six seasons, advancing to the College World Series in 2002 for the first time in 45 years.

In men’s soccer, Notre Dame had its best season in school history in 2004, defeating eventual NCAA runner-up St. John’s in the BIG EAST final and peaking at third in the national rankings.

In cross country, Notre Dame has won five BIG EAST titles (three men, each of the last two years on the women’s side) and finished in the top 20 at the NCAA Championships nine times, including the women’s team’s third-place result in 2002 that is the best in program history.

The Irish track and field teams have won five BIG EAST championships, but also have been the league’s runner-up 11 times. Notre Dame student-athletes have accounted for 274 all-BIG EAST performances (top-three finishes).

Notre Dame captured three straight BIG EAST men’s golf titles from 1996-98 and then won another in 2004, using the latest to earn the squad’s first trip to the NCAAs since 1966.

Three Irish teams had never participated in the NCAA Championships before becoming members of the BIG EAST, but have since emerged on the national scene. Women’s lacrosse has been a BIG EAST sport for just four years, but Notre Dame has finished as the league’s runner-up in two of those seasons. That span also has seen the Irish make their first two NCAA tournament appearances and move all the way up to second in the national rankings last spring. Notre Dame’s women’s golf team has finished first in both of the first two BIG EAST Championships, using the ’04 title to springboard to its first-ever NCAA berth after then-freshman Katie Brophy was a co-medalist in the inaugural event.

Women’s rowing still does not hold a conference championship, but it began the BIG EAST Rowing Challenge in 2001, and the Irish finished second in each of the first three regattas before claiming the championship last spring. Twice in the last three years, Notre Dame’s varsity eight boat has been invited to the NCAA Championships.

The Irish men’s swimming and diving program posted its highest-ever point total in last year’s BIG EAST Championships in grabbing its third runner-up finish. The squad will aim for its first-ever appearance in the NCAA meet this season.

Competing as an independent was a long-standing tradition of Notre Dame athletics until its women’s teams joined the North Star Conference in 1983-84 and most of its Olympic sports became members of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference after that. Since making the move to the BIG EAST in the summer of 1995, dominating play in league action and program bests in NCAA play has become the norm.