Nov. 20, 2005
The University of Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving team moved from second to first on the final day of the Minnesota Invitational to claim the meet title on Sunday afternoon, compiling 722 points during the three-day event. After sitting in second place entering the final day of competition, the Irish stepped up to post six top-five finishes to move past Wisconsin and hold off the host team, Minnesota (707 points), for the victory.
The team title puts a fitting end to a solid weekend by the Fighting Irish. In all, Notre Dame finished in the top-three 15 times, claimed two victories and posted seven NCAA “B” qualifying times (highlighted by Katie Carroll’s “A” cut on Saturday in the 400 individual medley). On Sunday, the team’s depth ended up earning the meet title.
Sunday began with a third-place effort by Ann Barton in the 200 backstroke, as she finished in 2:02.06.
The 100 free was next on the docket and junior Rebecca Grove swam well to finish second in 51.54 – besting her season-best time by over a second.
Next up was the 200 breaststroke and junior Julia Quinn, who transferred to Notre Dame from Minnesota during the summer of 2005, stepped up to finish second in 2:16.12.
With the Irish slowly moving up the team standings, all the squad required as a multiple top-five finish to claim first place. The 200 butterfly ended up as the key event for Notre Dame. Led by junior Katie Carroll in second place (2:01.50), freshman Casey Wagner took third in 2:05.35.
The Irish now had the meet title in sight and the 400 freestyle relay closed off the meet with a solid third-place effort. Freshman Christa Riggins, junior Ellen Johnson, Grove and Carroll ended up with a time of 3:26.73.
Notre Dame will be back in the pool for the Notre Dame Invitational in the Rolfs Aquatic Center from Dec. 1-3. The traditional meet starts with preliminaries at 10:00 a.m., followed by finals at 6:30 p.m.
Minnesota Invitational Final Team Standings
1. Notre Dame, 722
2. Minnesota, 707
3. Kansas, 670.5
4. Wisconsin, 664
5. Washington State, 561.5
6. Nebraska, 479
7. Iowa State, 129
8. North Dakota, 72
9. Saint Cloud State, 11
10. South Dakota State, 4
Notre Dame’s Top-Three Finishes in the Minnesota Invitational
200 Individual Medley – 2nd – Katie Carroll – 2:02.69@
50 Freestyle – 2nd – Rebecca Grove – 23.48@
400 Medley Relay – 3rd – Caroline Johnson, Jessica Stephens, Katie Carroll, Rebecca Grove – 3:45.21
200 Medley Relay – 1st – Caroline Johnson, Julia Quinn, Jessica Stephens, Rebecca Grove – 1:43.46
400 Individual Medley – 1st – Katie Carroll – 4:15.34*
100 Butterfly – 2nd – Katie Carroll – 55.49
100 Breaststroke – 3rd – Jessica Stephens – 1:03.57@
100 Backstroke – 1st – Caroline Johnson – 55.77@
800 Freestyle Relay – 3rd – Katie Carroll, Casey Wagner, Christa Riggins, Rebecca Grove – 7:24.50@
200 Backstroke – 3rd – Ann Barton – 2:02.06
100 Freestyle – 2nd – Rebecca Grove – 51.54
200 Breaststroke – 2nd – Julia Quinn – 2:16.12@
200 Butterfly – 2nd – Katie Caroll – 2:01.50@
200 Butterfly – 3rd – Casey Wagner – 2:05.35
400 Freestyle Relay – 3rd – Christa Riggins, Ellen Johnson, Rebecca Grove, Katie Carroll – 3:26.73
@ – NCAA “B” Qualification time
* – NCAA “A” Qualification time