Oct. 13, 1999

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams started the year off on the right foot, winning the Notre Dame Relays last Friday, Oct. 8. The annual meet consisted of 11 swimming relays of all types and both one and three-meter diving. The Irish men and women won their respective meets with scores of 228 points for the men and 222 points for the women.

Men’s Swimming and Diving – In the 35th running of the men’s meet, the Irish took first in all but one of the 13 events. With a time of 3:32.99, the Irish 400 butterfly relay team of Ryan Verlin (Rye, N.Y.), Clay Miller (Mead, Wash.), Grant Burrall (Cedarburg, Wis.) and David Horak (Dumfries, Va.) set a meet record.

Illinois-Chicago finished second in the meet with 166 points followed by Wabash (162), Valparaiso (94), Xavier (88), Butler (86) and Marquette (52). Wabash took the only race not won by the Irish in the 400-yard individual medley relay.

The men’s diving team had a successful return to action for the first time in over a year at the Notre Dame Relays. The tandem of Herb Huesman (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Andy Maggio (Cincinnati, Ohio) took first place in both the one and three-meter events with winning combined scores of 487.30 and 511.4 (meet record) respectively.

Women’s Swimming and Diving – In the 16th annual women’s meet, Notre Dame captured 10 of 13 events en route to a first-place finish. The Irish also set one of three meet records on the night with a time of 1:48.12 in the 200-yard medley relay. The record-setting team consisted of Kelly Hecking (Rutherford, N.J.), Kathleen Rimkus (Chantilly, Va.), Elizabeth Barger (Littleton, Colo.) and Carrie Nixon (Ouray, Colo.).

The other two meet records were set by Illinois State in the 500 crescendo relay and the 400 freestyle relay. The Redbirds finished second behind the Irish with 190 points followed by Butler (112), Illinois-Chicago (106), Xavier (106), Valparaiso (96), Marquette (52), and St. Mary’s (46).

The Notre Dame women’s diving team won both their events as well. The pairing of Gina Ketelhohn (Brown Deer, Wis.) and Heather Mattingly (Houston, Texas) took first place with scores of 479.75 and 537.05 respectively.

Upcoming – Both the men’s and women’s teams are scheduled to head to Colorado for fall break. The women will swim in a tri-meet versus Metro State and Colorado State in Denver, October 20, while the men are expected to compete in a dual meet with Air Force on October 21. The men’s team and the women’s divers are then planning on traveling to Fort Collins, Colo. for the Colorado State Invitational, October 22-23.

Both teams return home for dual meets, November 6, versus Texas Christian University at 1 p.m. in the Rolfs Aquatic Center.