Tabahn Afrik swam a 19.98 leg in Notre Dame's winning 200 freestyle relay team.

Swimming & Diving Beats MSU, Trails A&M

Oct. 13, 2017

Day 1 Results Get Acrobat Reader

By Leigh Torbin

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The No. 17/25 Notre Dame men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams got a disparate set of results Friday evening in the Rolfs Aquatic Center, cruising past regional rival Michigan State but facing a substantial deficit halfway through a meet with No. 15/5 Texas A&M.

The Irish men downed Michigan State, 136-30, while Notre Dame’s women beat the Spartans, 139.5-27.5. In the simultaneously-swum first half of a two-day dual meet with the Aggies, the Irish men trail 101.5-65.5 while the women stand behind their counterparts by a 121-46 count after 18 out of 38 events.

The Irish claimed a trio of events on the evening.

Notre Dame emerged victorious in the men’s 200 freestyle relay (1:21.00) behind the quartet of Justin Plaschka, Tabahn Afrik, Dan Fujan and Daniel Speers. Freshman Zach Yeadon, the national swimmer of the week, continued the hot start to his Notre Dame career by winning the 500 freestyle in 4:26.91.

Senior Molly Treble provided Notre Dame’s lone women’s event win of the day, claiming the 500 freestyle title in 4:49.60. Unfortunately, the remaining 15 events on Friday all went to Texas A&M.

“On the women’s side, we’re running into the number three team in the country last year,” Notre Dame head coach Mike Litzinger said. “We’re fighting hard and we’re swimming fast. We’re swimming as fast or faster than last week (in the win over No. 9 Louisville), but we’re running into elite competition. It’s great for us and the response has been really good.

“On the men’s side, we’re the middle of in a really good dual meet with Texas A&M. There’s been a lot of back-and-forth. Tomorrow’s the next part of it so we’re going to come out and give a great effort.

“It’s also great that Michigan State can travel down and be a part of this. It’s kind of a tale of two tapes and Michigan State got caught in the middle but they have some fine athletes. They are much-improved from last year. We’ll go up there next year and have a great meet with them.”

Up Next

The Irish and Aggies return to the Rolfs Aquatic Center at 11 a.m. on Saturday to complete their two-day 38-event dual meet with 20 events of action.

How to Get Here

Due to renovations to the Joyce Center’s fieldhouse which restrict access to Gate 5, swimming and diving fans are encouraged to take a slightly different route to access the Rolfs Aquatic Center. Fans should park in the Bulla Lot and then access the Joyce Center through Gate 2 which is on the west side of the building near the men’s basketball office. Fans can then proceed through Heritage Hall to the Rolfs spectator balcony.

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Leigh Torbin, athletics communications assistant director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2013. A native of Framingham, Massachusetts, Torbin graduated from the University of Massachusetts in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in sports management. He has previously worked full-time on the athletic communications staffs at Vanderbilt, Florida, Connecticut and UCF.