Feb. 17, 2011
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Freshman Frank Dyer cruised to set a Notre Dame and BIG EAST Conference record Thursday at Wright Natatorium by going 4:19.08 in the 500 free. Dyer’s effort on the second day of the BIG EAST Swimming Championships brought home the meet’s first individual swimming title for the Irish, who are second overall with 326.5 points.
Louisville (346) leads the 10-team field and Pittsburgh (237) is third.
“Frank’s 500 time was the goal we set from day one,” associate head coach Matt Tallman said. “We could not be more proud of him, as his long season of tremendous efforts and focus reaped such a deserving result.
“As a whole, it was a good day for the team. There are still a lot of swims ahead of us, and we have faith that we’ll rebound tomorrow and take care of business from here on out.”
Action continues with Friday’s preliminaries at 10:00 a.m. (ET). Live results and video will be available at UND.com.
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500 Free: Michael Sullivan, Dyer and Steven Brus represented Notre Dame in the finale … it was there that Dyer, swimming in lane seven, began to go where no BIG EAST swimmer had ever gone before … Dyer dried off with a 4:19.08 – over seven seconds faster than his prelims time – for a league and school record to finish first … the time was nearly three seconds below the previous record, set in 2008 by Notre Dame’s MacKenzie LeBlanc (4:22.05).
200 Individual Medley: Bill Bass’ NCAA B-cut of 1:47.42 was good for a share of second place, as his wall touch was simultaneous with that of Louisville’s Alex Burtch … Colin Babcock (1:50.14) was seventh in the finals as Joseph Raycroft (1:50.22) placed eighth … Bertie Nel (1:51.16) and Marshall Sherman (1:54.94) rounded out the Irish effort in the consolations.
50 Free: Kevin Overholt bolted through in 20.47 to finish seventh in the fastest race of the meet … Christopher Johnson (20.76) was 13th … Louisville’s Brendon Andrews was the only swimmer to crack the 20-second barrier, taking home the title in 19.83.
200 Free Relay: Notre Dame held a slim lead early and barely dropped to second heading into the final leg … incredible efforts by Louisville (1:19.69), West Virginia (1:20.12) and West Virginia (1:20.12) put the teams ahead of the Irish (1:20.67) to finish the race … Overholt went 19.79 as the second swimmer in the water for the Irish.
–ND–