COLUMBUS, Ohio — The University of Notre Dame swim and dive team completed day one of the Ohio State Fall Invitational with the women currently in second behind Stanford. The meet continues tomorrow (Friday) at 10 a.m. for the second preliminary round before the finals begin at 5 p.m.
The evening finals began with the Irish women taking second overall in the 200 free relay with a time of 1:29.72. They were led by Abbie Dolan, Katie Smith, Cailey Grunhard and Carly Quast. The two other Irish relays to compete placed seventh (1:31.63) and 11th (1:33.57) to put the Irish in contention for the first place spot early on.
The top Irish men’s 200 free relay finished eighth overall, touching the wall on the final lap in 1:20.62 and featured Tabahn Afrik, Aaron Schultz, Zachary Smith and Jack Montesi in the finals. The Irish also placed 14th in the event for an early point total of 90 points.
In the A final of the 500 free, Lindsay Stone earned an NCAA B cut time, finishing the race in 4:44.77 and eighth overall. Sinead Eksteen finished second in the B heat and 12th overall in the event with a time of 4:45.84 and another NCAA B cut. Alice Treuth and Madeline LaPorte also competed in the race.
After finishing second in the preliminary races, Zach Yeadon defeated teammate Sadler McKeen in the 500 free, finishing with a time of 4:15.40 and an NCAA B cut. McKeen also earned an NCAA cut with his time of 4:17.10, leading the Irish to a first and second place finish in the A finals heat.
In the 200 IM, Luciana Thomas led the Irish with her 10th place finish, gliding into the wall in 2:00.53 having previously earned an NCAA B cut in the prelim race. The C final race saw the Irish take three of the top-5 spots and 21, 22 and 25 overall as Kyra Sarazen, Erin Sheehan and Nikki Smith all finished close to each other. Bayley Stewart, Meaghan O’Donnell and Sammie Eyolfson also competed in the 200 IM finals.
Four Irish men placed in the top-10 of the 200 IM with Marci Barta taking the title in 1:44.73. He was followed shortly by Aaron Schultz in third with a time of 1:45.16. Andrew Winton and Will Cumberland finished sixth and seventh, respectively, while Nick Milikich (13th), Joe Turk (15th), Matt Grauslys (16th) and Steven Shek (18th) rounded out the top-20. In total, 11 Irish men competed in the event as Rex Riley, John Becker and Jack Russell all dove into the pool for the 200 IM.
In the final individual swimming race of the evening, Abbie Dolan and Nikki Smith placed in the top-10 as Dolan finished eighth overall and Smith took the 10th spot. Six individuals placed in the top-20 on the Irish team with Carly Quast (12th), Cailey Grunhard (18th), Rachel Wittmer (19th) and Kelly Jacob (20th) all competed through the A and B heats. Sofia Revilak finished in 21st while Lauren Heller and Skylar Fore also competed.
Tabahn Afrik took the top spot for the Irish in the men’s 50 free, touching the wall in 20:37 for 14th overall. Zach Smith, Dan Fujan and Jack Montessi also competed, placing in the top-30 overall while Brendan Santana, Dan Bannon and Matthew Somerville ended the individual swimming competition for the Irish on day one.
The Notre Dame women took sixth in the 400 medley relay, finishing with a time of 3:37.04. They finished directly ahead of another Irish squad who finished just over one second behind, in 3:38.80. The men’s top team took second overall with a final time of 3:11.38. The two other Irish squads took sixth and seventh to conclude the swimming portion of the evening.
In the diving well, Austin Flaute took 10th overall with a final score of 259.80 while Christian Herrera finished 13th (234.55) and David Petrison ended in 15th (227.35). Three of the women’s divers placed in the top-five with Kelly Straub leading the group with a second place finish and 316.05 total points. Annie Wiese took the third spot with 299.30 points while Erin Isola rounded out the top-five in fifth with 286.60 points accumulated. Kate McCahan and Claire Andrews also competed in the women’s 3-meter dives.
At the conclusion of day one, both teams sit in second place with the women garnering 592 points and the men tied with Kentucky for 571 points.
The meet resumes tomorrow, Friday, November 16 at 10 a.m. The finals portion of the day will begin promptly at 5 p.m. following the morning preliminary session.
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