March 9, 2007
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The 19th-ranked University of Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving team competed in four events on the first day of the NCAA Championships on Thursday, March 8, in Minneapolis, Minn.
The 200-yard freestyle relay team of junior Caroline Johnson (Springfield, Mo./Glendale), sophomore Christa Riggins (Phoenix, Ariz./Sunnyslope), seniors Katie Carroll (Toledo, Ohio/Notre Dame Academy) and Rebecca Grove (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Yorktown) were the first event of the day and placed 23rd in a time of 1:32.70. Grove and Riggins also compete in the 50-yard freestyle. Grove finished 58th (23.38) in the event, with Riggins placing 62nd (23.43).
Sophomore Claire Hutchinson (Baltimore, Md./McDonogh) and senior Ellen Johnson (Toledo, Ohio/Notre Dame Academy) finished 52nd (4:52.35) and 53rd (4:52.57), respectively in the 500-yard freestyle.
Notre Dame had three women compete in the 200-yard IM with Carroll finishing the highest in 22nd place (2:00.09). Freshman Megan Farrell (Hopkinton, Mass./Hopkinton) was 64th (2:04.14), while senior teammate Julia Quinn (Evanston, Ill./Evanston) was 66th (2:04.71).
The NCAA Championships continues this week, March 9-10 at the Minnesota Aquatic Center. Preliminaries are at 11 a.m. (CT), followed by diving 1 p.m. (CT) and the finals are at 7 p.m. (CT). Live results for the meet can be found at gophersports.com. A full recap of the day’s events can be found at und.com following the action in the pool each day.
The Irish will continue competing with an athlete in the five of the seven swimming events on the second day. Among those events that will be competed are the 400-yard IM (Carroll), 200-yard freestyle (Riggins, Farrell, Ellen Johnson), 100-yard breaststroke (Quinn), 100-yard backstroke (Caroline Johnson) and 800-yard freestyle relay (Riggins, Carroll, Farrell, Ellen Johnson).