Oct. 19, 2006
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving team will open the dual meet season ranked No. 20 according to the first College Swim Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) dual meet rankings, which were released today.
The Irish began this year’s campaign with a victory at the Dennis Stark Relays on Oct. 6 and will begin the dual meet competition on Friday, Nov. 3 at home against No. 25 Purdue. The Irish were defeated last season by Purdue, 172-128, on Oct. 29, 2005.
Notre Dame has five teams on its 2006-07 schedule that are ranked in the CSCAA top-25. Besides Purdue (Nov. 3), Michigan (Jan. 12-13) starts the season ranked No. 10, Minnesota (Nov. 17-19) is ranked No. 16, Indiana (Jan, 12-13) ranks No. 17 and Rutgers (BIG EAST Championship meet) is ranked No. 19. The Irish will also face off against two teams that received votes in the poll in Hawai’i (Jan. 3) and Illinois (Jan. 12-13).
Twenty-three monogram winners return for Notre Dame this season, including 12 all-BIG EAST performers from last year’s team, which posted a 6-2 dual meet record. Notre Dame captured its record tying 10th straight BIG EAST title by a slim 18-point margin over runner-up Rutgers and the rest of the competitive BIG EAST field last season.
This year’s poll will be published nine times and the champions will be crowned on February 22, 2007. Pollsters representing eight conferences along with two at-large voters, have the task of ranking the top dual meet teams in the nation bi-weekly throughout the season. Additionally, the group of pollsters is completely different for the men’s and women’s rankings.
For more information on the CSCAA rankings, log onto www.cscaa.org.
Notre Dame will have an Intersquad Pentathlon at the Rolfs Aquatic Center tomorrow afternoon.
-ND-