Jan. 21, 2006

The University of Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving team won its third dual meet in a row and sixth competition overall with a 156-147 victory at Michigan State on Saturday afternoon.

The team winning streak of six competitions includes dual-meet wins at Pittsburgh and versus Minnesota, a first-place showing in the Minnesota Invitational, a first-place showing in the Notre Dame Invitational, a first-place effort at the Michigan Invitational last weekend and Saturday’s dual-meet victory over the Spartans.

The Irish were led on Saturday by junior All-American Katie Carroll and freshman Christa Riggins, both of whom earned two individual victories. Carroll won the 200 breaststroke (2:24.96) and 200 individual medley (2:05.54), while Riggins earned wins in the 200 freestyle (1:51.81) and 500 freestyle (4:59.71).

Other event victories earned by the Irish included freshman Claire Hutchinson in the 1,000 freestyle (10:07.19), junior Rebecca Grove in the 100 backstroke (58.55), junior Jessica Stephens in the 100 breaststroke (1:06.44), sophomore Katie Hopkins in the 200 butterfly (2:07.52) and freshman Casey Wagner in the 100 freestyle (52.87).

Notre Dame will return to campus for competition next weekend, taking on BIG EAST Conference foe Louisville and Oakland in the Shamrock Invitational. Swimming will start on Friday, Jan. 27 at 5 p.m., followed by a morning session on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. and an evening session at 6 p.m.