Nov. 8, 2008
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – For the third time in as many tries the Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving team defeated rival Purdue after collecting a 189-111 win at the Rolfs Aquatic Center on Saturday. The 24th-ranked Irish improved to 2-0 in dual meets after dropping only three events – one swimming and two diving – to the Boilermakers.
“We were all over the place in terms of performance,” Irish head coach Brian Barnes said. “We were tired after our hardest week of training at this point of the season. The purpose of this meet was to race tough, and we did it.”
Notre Dame had not dropped an event in its home pool this season until the Boilermakers squeezed by in the 100 Back.
The Irish now have almost a month to prepare for the Ohio State Invitational held in Columbus, Ohio, from Dec. 5-7.
400 Medley Relay: Lauren Parisi gained a slight advantage over Purdue’s Katie Beck to open up the race … Samantha Maxwell then went to work and blew away the field during the breaststroke leg … with the first-place relay half a length ahead, Kellyn Kuhlke gained a firm second-place holding for the Irish with her performance during the butterfly … the Irish relays finished 1-2 with times of 3:49.53 and 3:55.58.
1,000 Free: Throughout the first half of the race Casey Wagner held even with Purdue’s Lauren Roth … meanwhile, Megan Farrell and Zeina Shanata worked on securing comfortable leads for third and fourth … the battle for first and second continued to heat up until the final 200 yards when Wagner surged forward to gain a three-yard lead over Roth … Wagner took first in a time of 10:09.68 with Roth finishing just behind in 10:11.56 … Farrell and Shanata held down third and fourth, respectively, with finishing times of 10:22.05 and 10:32.01.
200 Free: Christa Riggins stormed out to an early lead in the first 100 while Purdue’s Henninger contended Amy Prestinario for second … Riggins continued to dominate the race, taking gold with a time of 1:52.20 … Prestinario was unable to gain enough ground on Henninger to claim the silver … Henninger finished in 1:53.54 and Prestinario followed with a 1:53.95.
100 Back: The Boilermaker’s Allie Smith took a clear lead in the first lap … Parisi was defending her second-place honors from Purdue’s Katie Beck … Smith continued to demonstrate leadership over the field and locked in a first-place finish in 56.56 … Parisi held off her opponent and took silver for the Irish in 58.05.
100 Breast: Maxwell breezed through in 1:02.31 for first … Gwen Blythe and Purdue’s Jessica Davis sprinted to the finish for second place … Blythe lunged into the wall first, out-touching Davis with a time of 1:06.27.
200 Fly: Katie Casey moved out to an early lead and placed first in 2:03.77 … Claire Hutchinson and Purdue’s Lauren Roth took part in a close race for second with Roth (2:06.83) coming out on top … Hutchinson touched in 2:07.65.
50 Free: Amywren Miller was the first to flip and cruised to the win in 23.21 … Delia Cronin placed fourth in 24.55.
3-meter Diving: Heidi Grossman was second with 319.58 points and teammate Lucy Hirt tagged on a fifth-place showing with a 246.07 total.
100 Free: Miller jumped out to a strong Irish start with three Purdue swimmers in pursuit … she took the gold in 51.11 … Cronin was fifth in 53.90.
200 Back: Parisi surfaced from the start even with Smith … Gilson and Farrell added their names to list of first-place contenders as all four women flipped evenly in the third turn … during the third lap Parisi claimed the lead and held on to the gold in 2:03.00 … Farrell took fourth with a time of 2:04.32 … Barton (2:09.89) was fifth.
200 Breast: Maxwell (2:17.46) dominated the field for the Irish while Gwen Blythe (2:27.02) forced her way into second over Purdue’s Christina Jacobs … Blythe continued to distinguish her lead in the back half of the race.
500 Free: Riggins and Lauren Sylvester had solid starts in the race holding three-yard leads over Purdue’s Roth at the midway point … the two proved to be the clear leaders and took the top spots in respective times of 4:58.67 and 4:58.74 … Hutchinson started a drive against Roth with 200 yards left but placed behind her for fourth in 5:07.85.
100 Fly: Casey (57.71) and Shanata (57.96) left no doubt by claiming the first two spots.
1-meter Diving: Grossman (266.39) was Notre Dame’s highest finisher … she placed fourth.
400 Individual Medley: Farrell, Edgell, and Prestinario came out of the butterfly even to gain control of the event for Notre Dame … during the backstroke leg, Purdue’s Gilson closed in on Prestinario … Prestinario managed to hold off Gilson during the breaststroke and freestyle legs to defend third place for the Irish … Edgell took first with a time of 4:24.07 while Farrell (4:25.37) and Prestinario (4:30.76) finished behind her.
400 Free Relay: The final win of the evening was registered by Prestinario, Riggins, Cronin and Miller … the quartet knocked off a time of 3:29.36.
–ND–