Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website

Women First; Men Fourth After Day Two Of BIG EAST Meet

Feb. 22, 2002

Uniondale, N.Y. – The University of Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving team is in first place, while the men are in fourth after day two of the 2002 BIG EAST Swimming and Diving Championships at Nassau County Aquatic Center in Uniondale, N.Y. The Irish women, who are looking for their sixth consecutive conference title, finished day two with 555 points. Rutgers is second with 382.5 points. In the men’s race, Pittsburgh is first with 585 points. Notre Dame has 276 points.

The Irish team of Kelly Hecking, Allison Lloyd, Lisa D’Olier, and Carrie Nixon won the 200 medley relay, setting a BIG EAST Championship record and school record with a time of 1:41.93. The previous BIG EAST and school record of 1:42.47 was set at the 1999 BIG EAST Championships by the Notre Dame team of Hecking, Brittany Kline, Elizabeth Barger, and Nixon. Lloyd also finished second in the 100 breast (1:03.24) after setting a Notre Dame season top time of 1:03.14 to qualify for the final.

Senior Hecking also won the 100-back for the second year in a row with a team season high time of 55.26. Notre Dame had the second place finisher in the event, freshman Kristen Peterson, and third place finisher, sophomore Danielle Hulick.

The two wins today by Hecking are her 17th and 18th career BIG EAST titles, the most of any swimmer in conference history. This distinction is shared with teammate Nixon. Nixon’s win in the 200 medley relay marked the 18th BIG EAST title in her career. After missing last season with a shoulder injury, Nixon has come back to win four titles over these first two days at the BIG EAST meet.

Another top performer for the Irish women was sophomore Lisa Garcia, who was second in the 100 fly (55.13) and set a team season high in the preliminaries with a time of 54.82. Senior Heather Mattingly placed second in the three-meter diving with 538.05 points.

On the men’s side, senior Jonathan Pierce led the Irish in day two as he did in day one. Pierce finished second in the 400 individual medley in 3:56.34. In doing so, he set a school record, bettering the previous mark of 3:58.23 set in1999 by Scott Zumbach. Junior Jason Fitzpatrick finished fifth in the 100 breast in 56.23, setting a team season high.

In diving, junior Andy Maggio was fifth with 306.40 points, while sophomore Tong Xie was 13th with 214.85 points.

The BIG EAST Championships conclude Saturday with preliminaries at 10:30 a.m. and the finals at 6:00 p.m.

Note: For complete results, please visit the following website: www.bigeast.org/sports/swimming/champs02/day1final.asp