INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — To kick off the Fourth of July weekend, 11 Irish swimmers will head a couple of hours south to Indianapolis for the 2023 Phillips 66 National Championships starting on Tuesday. The event serves as a selection meet to decide the U.S. rosters for the 2023 World Championships, World Junior Championships, LEN U-23 European Championships and Pan American Games.
Six men and five women from Notre Dame earned qualifying times, including three athletes who will compete in three events at the University of Indiana:
Tate Bacon: 200 butterfly
Sean Faikish: 200 breaststroke & 200 IM
Marcus Gentry: 50, 100 & 200 backstroke
Chris Guiliano: 50, 100 & 200 freestyle
Tommy Janton: 50, 100 & 200 backstroke
Cason Wilburn: 50 & 100 butterfly
Megan Deuel: 200 butterfly
Megan Glass: 200 freestyle
Maggie Graves: 800 & 1500 freestyle
Ellie Jew: 50 & 100 breaststroke
Mary Cate Pruitt: 800 freestyle
On the men’s side, Guiliano — the reigning ACC champion in the 200 free — will look to add to his ever-growing list of accomplishments. He is the school record holder in both the 200 yard and meter event and has already punched his ticket to 2024 Olympic Trials. Faikish, Janton and Wilburn will also return to Indianapolis for next year’s Trials, with Faikish having just qualified in both the 200 freestyle and 200 IM last weekend.
All in all, it’s a younger men’s contingent. Four of the six swimmers have at least two more years of eligibility. Bacon, Gentry and Janton are all rising sophomores.
On the topic of eligibility, Michigan transfer Glass will begin her final year of collegiate competition at this weekend’s meet. She will be joined by a fellow graduate student in Jew, who elected to use her COVID-19 year. She made her first NCAAs last year.
Rising juniors and distance specialists Graves and Pruitt will look to build upon successful sophomore years this weekend. Pruitt was named the Most Improved Swimmer on the women’s side in April.
Peacock will feature live coverage of finals everyday beginning at 7 p.m. ET. The following days will feature tape-delay coverage on NBC and CNBC. USA Swimming will live stream the prelims each day on their YouTube channel, starting at 10 a.m. ET every morning. A full meet psych sheet can be found here.