March 17, 2006

One would think St. Patrick’s Day would be lucky for the Fighting Irish, but two Notre Dame women’s swimming team members were affected by a stomach illness on Friday, March 17 – the second day of the 2006 NCAA Championships at the University of Georgia. With the bug spreading through several different teams at the event, junior Katie Carroll and freshman Claire Hutchinson were the only affected athletes at the event who eventually entered the pool to compete.

The illness obviously played a part in their finishes on Friday at the preliminaries. Carroll, entering the 400 individual medley with the fifth-seeded time, fell to 38th and finished in 4:28.47 – far off her seed time of 4:12.00. Hutchinson followed along with her teammate, finished 39th in 4:28.84.

Junior Julia Quinn, untouched by the bug going through the competition, entered the 100 breaststroke and competed well, finishing 33rd in 1:03.63.

“It was a good solid swim for Julia and sets her up well for tomorrow’s race,” Irish head coach Carrie Nixon said after the morning swim. Quinn’s specialty, the 200 breaststroke, is set to be competed on Saturday.

Notre Dame will not have a competitor in Friday evening’s finals, while Carroll and Hutchinson’s status for Saturday remains undetermined.

Live results can be viewed on www.georgiadogs.com.