Dec. 8, 2000
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WHO: The Notre Dame Women’s Swimming and Diving team.
WHAT: Rainbow Invitational
WHERE: Honolulu, Hawaii
WHEN: Jan. 2-3, 2001
Irish Will Spend the New Year Swimming on the Islands: The Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving team, ranked 17th in the country, travels to Honolulu, Hawaii, over the Holiday break to compete in the 2001 Rainbow Invitational. The Irish are coming off a first-place finish at the Notre Dame Invitational (Nov. 30-Dec. 2) and also placed second at the Indiana University Invitational (Nov. 17-19) in Bloomington, Ind.
The team posted a number of notable performances in the Notre Dame Invitational. Competing against Denison, Michigan State, Harvard, Western Kentucky, Northern Michigan, Illinois-Chicago, the Air Force Academy and Columbia, the Irish captured first in seven individual and relay events.
Freshman Marie Labosky (Churchville, Pa.) won three events in the competition to highlight the Irish effort. Labosky captured first in the 200 and 400 IM (2:04.71 and 4:24.23) while also winning the 1,650 freestyle in 16:51.64. Labosky led an Irish IM contingent that ended up dominating the meet, as Notre Dame would place six swimmers in the top five of both the 200 and 400 IM. Amy Deger (Pittsburgh, Pa.) won the “B” finals on day one of the competition in 2:07.08 (ninth-place overall) and finished third in the 400 IM (4:28.91). Lisa Garcia (Denver, Colo.) took third in the 200 IM (2:07.22) and Tiffany O’Brien (Redmond, Wa.) finished fifth in the 400 IM.
The Notre Dame medley relay teams also posted a strong showing. The 400 medley relay team of Kelly Hecking (Rutherford, NJ), Danielle Hulick (Galesburg, Ill.), Sarah Bowman (Cheshire, Conn.) and Brooke Davey (Hopewell Junction, NY) placed first (3:52.71) in the initial event of the Invitational to start the team off on the right foot. The 200 medley team of Hecking, Allison Lloyd (Fort Wayne, Ind.), Garcia and Hulick followed up the next day by finishing second in 1:47.68.
Bowman and Labosky also placed well in the butterfly events. Bowman took second in the 100 fly (57.73) and fifth in the 200 fly (2:08.44) and Garcia finished third in both the 100 (57.93) and 200 (2:06.27) fly.
Along with the top performance of Labosky, the dominating performance of Hecking is also noteworthy. Hecking was a member of the successful IM relay teams and won the 100 and 200 backstroke events in 55.70 and 2:00.54, respectively. She also combined with Hulick, Bowman and Davey to finish second in the 200 freestyle relay (1:37.29). All told, Hecking posted five top-five finishes over the three day competition.
In the distance lane, Kristen Van Saun (Lawrence, Kansas) continued to excel with a second place finish in the 500 freestyle (4:58.42) and nabbed third place in the 1,650 freestyle (17:05.51). Labosky, Van Saun and Nicole Kohrt (Granger, Ind.) combined to go 1-3-4 in the 1,650 freestyle final. Kohrt finished in 17:15.35.
Laurie Musgrave (Littleton, Colo.) finished second in the 200 breaststroke and was joined by three teammates in the top five. Lloyd took third in 2:23.29 and Jilen Siroky (Matthews, NC) took fifth place (2:24.53). Siroky also won the 200 butterfly “B” final in 2:11.15.
In the diving tank, Heather Mattingly (Houston, Texas) set a school and meet record with 550.55 points in the three-meter finals. Mattingly also finished third in the one-meter competition with 291.25.
Tough Stretch Ahead: After Notre Dame returns from the Rainbow Invitational, they will face two ranked teams in three consecutive meets. In January, the Irish will face 13th-ranked Michigan twice, 20th-ranked Northwestern, Oakland and Illinois.