CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The Irish women continued their unbeaten streak as they rolled to victories over Illinois (200-100) and Iowa (204-95) to open 2019 action. Notre Dame left their mark at Arc Pool on Friday, January 11, adding six new records to the board, including two individual records set by Lindsay Stone.
Following a month long hiatus, the Irish returned to the pool for a series of duals against two Big Ten teams, the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Hawkeyes of Iowa. The women placed first in 11 of the 16 events and finished in the top-three in every race on the day.
“It was a good day of competition for our women,” Head Coach Mike Litzinger said. “Setting 6 U of ILL Pool Records and grabbing 2 wins vs Iowa/ILL showed that our team is ready to get after this next segment of competition.”
Lindsay Stone took first in the 1000 free, setting an Arc Pool record of 9:58.17 in the process. Later in the afternoon Stone again took first, breaking the 500 free pool record for her second of the day with a time of 4:52.33.
The Irish continued their streak of first-place finishes as Sinead Eksteen (200 free, 1:51.53) and Carly Quast (100 back, 55.58) boosted the Irish lead, one they would hold for the remainder of the day.
In the sixth event of the day, boasting the 16th best time in the nation heading into the meet, Luciana Thomas broke the pool record in the 200 fly, finishing with a time of 2:00.53.
The Irish finished in the top-two spots of the 50 free as Lauren Heller edged out Erin Sheehan by 0.12 seconds. Heller finished the race in 23.65 while Sheehan touched the wall in 23.77.
Kelly Straub and Erin Isola led the Irish divers in the 1-meter competition as they scored 281.30 and 266.90, respectively, for first and second place.
Back between the lane lines, Heller followed up her 50 free race with a first place 100 free finish in 51.13 in the next race.
Alice Treuth set the third pool record of the day when she finished the 200 back in 1:58.02. She entered the meet tied for 16th in the nation this season in the 200 back event.
The Irish claimed three of the top-four spots in the 500 free, including Stone’s record setting performance. Sinead Eksteen came in second with a time of 4:56.42 while Ellie Berdusco finished fourth in 5:02.84.
Erin Sheehan dove back in the pool for the 100 fly where she broke the pool record, touching the wall in 54.82.
The diving contests continued with Kelly Straub and Annie Wiese took second and third, respectively. Straub totaled 309.05 points and Wiese took 299.45 to conclude the diving portion of the dual meets.
To end the afternoon, the Notre Dame 400 free relay took first and another pool record as the team finished the race in 3:26.16. Led off by Lauren Heller, Carly Quast, Erin Sheehan and Sofia Revilak, the squad earned the sixth record breaking performance of the day.
“Now [the women] are looking forward to getting back to South Bend, getting back to class and focusing in on the ACC/NCAA meets,” Litzinger added.
The men will compete Saturday, January 12 in Iowa City, Iowa as they face the Hawkeyes in a single dual meet. The Irish women, now 9-0-1 in dual meets through the 2018-19 season, return to action in two weeks as the two squads come back together for the annual Shamrock Invitational.
The two-day Invitational will take place January 25-26 at Rolfs Aquatics Center and will include a celebration of the team’s 13 seniors prior to the start of the second day.
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