Oct. 19, 2017
By Leigh Torbin
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – A five meet homestand to open the 2017-18 for the Notre Dame men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams comes to a conclusion on Friday afternoon with a familiar ACC foe as the Irish play host to Georgia Tech. The meet starts at noon in the Rolfs Aquatic Center.
The homestand has been a solid one to start the season for the Irish who have stood toe-toe toe with top competition, defeating No. 7/9 Louisville and Michigan State, winning a fair share of events from No. 15/5 Texas A&M in dual meet losses, and also swimming well in the annual Dennis Stark Relays.
The two teams met this same weekend last year in Atlanta for a two-day dual meet which Notre Dame won, 181-172 on the men’s side and 274-79 on the women’s side.
Notre Dame has shown through just two weeks that it is not a squad to be overlooked in the ACC this year as it prepares to face league foe Georgia Tech. Although the season is just two weeks old, the Irish currently boast the league’s top time in six events; the men’s 500 freestyle (Zach Yeadon), 1000 freestyle (Zach Yeadon), men’s 200 backstroke (Rob Whitacre), men’s 400 IM (Christopher Smith), women’s 1000 freestyle (Lindsay Stone) and the women’s 400 freestyle relay.
About the Yellow Jackets
Georgia Tech is swimming its second meet of the young season. The Yellow Jackets downed Pittsburgh comfortably for both genders in Atlanta on Oct. 6.
The Irish men and women each placed ahead of the Yellow Jackets at last year’s ACC Championship but Georgia Tech showed to be a solid squad this year in its win at Pitt. Among the highlights, Caio Pumputis earned CollegeSwimming.com’s ACC Swimmer of the Week accolade after winning the 200 breaststroke and 200 IM.
“We are looking forward to hosting another ACC rival here in South Bend,” Irish head coach Mike Litzinger said. “Last year we had a great meet at Georgia Tech, and it came down to the last few events on the men’s side. The Yellow Jacket men will be ready this year. They had a fine recruiting class, and we will see some great swims from them.
“The Georgia Tech women are very much improved, and will challenge us in every event. I am really looking forward to see if our women can keep up the intensity shown over the last two weekends, and put that energy into Friday.”
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.