Oct. 9, 2015

Results

Results, Dennis Stark Relays

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Competing against Olivet Nazarene, IUPUI, Wright State, and Oakland, the University of Notre Dame men’s swimming and diving team won the 51^st annual Dennis Stark relay meet to open their season. The Irish scored 200 points, and were followed (in order) by Oakland, Wright State, Olivet Nazarene and IUPUI.

“I just wanted to see the guys get up on the blocks and race today,” says Irish head coach Matt Tallman. “We were able to make a decent lineup to give everybody a fair shot at some at some of their real, truer events. I think we stepped up and swam well, and we saw some positive stuff on the side of the pool as well in regards to energy and cheering for one another. We have a long way to go, but we’re making strides towards where we want to be.”

Notre Dame relay teams claimed first place in seven out of 10 of the swimming events, coming in second in the 400 medley (3:25.90) with the A-squad lineup of Bogac Ayhan, Andrew Jensen, Shane McKenzie and Michael Hudspith touching the wall in 3:25.90. In the 3×100 breast event, Notre Dame teams placed third and fourth.

“I was really impressed with Dan Speers, Tabahn Afrik and Matt Grauslys,” junior Reed Fujan said of his teammates. “All three of them did pretty exceptional jobs of stepping up at their first meet.”

“I was happy with how I swam tonight; I definitely swam better at this year’s first meet than I have in previous years,” says Fujan’s classmate Kevin Bradley. “The Dennis Stark Relays are a little different for me because I’m not traditionally a sprinter, but it gives us the opportunity to swim different events, and I got to do that today and have fun.

The Irish are next in action on October 30th, when they host Michigan State. In addition to the competition in the water, Notre Dame has agreed to participate in a national breast cancer awareness fundraising campaign, going head-to-head with nine other teams nationally to raise money for breast cancer research (full details here).

Dennis Stark Relay Results

200 free relay

1. ND (A) – Plaschka (21.07), Speers (19.91), Afrik (20.52), Bradley (20.48) – 1:21.98
2. ND (B) – D. Fujan (21.62), Barth (21.02), Gorski (21.32), Stewart (21.42) – 1:25.38

400 medley relay

2. ND (A) – Ayhan (49.76), Jensen (58.87), McKenzie (51.17), Hudspith (46.10) – 3:25.90
3. ND (B) – Brown (53.49), Russell (58.92), Grauslys (48.89), Bessire (47.81) – 3:29.11

800 free relay

1. ND (A) – Mannix (1:43.24), Shek (1:44.10), Jackson (1:40.67), Petrone (1:44.62) – 6:52.63

400 IM relay

1. ND (A) – Anderson (53.28), Bradley (51.32), R. Fujan (51.81), Whitacre (51.68) – 3:28.09
2. ND (B) – Jensen (55.31), McKenzie (54.03), Stump (55.51), Russell (53.78) – 3:38.63

3×100 fly relay

1. ND (A) – Grauslys (49.86), Plaschka, Stewart – 2:29.56
2. ND (B) – Anderson (52.03), Russell, Hudspith – 2:35.66

3×100 breast relay

3. ND (A) – Stump (58.38), Gorski, Jensen – 2:56.89
4. ND (B) – Jackson (59.11), Olszewski, Shek – 2:57.17

3×500 free relay

1. ND (A) – Mannix (4:41.55), Petrone, Brown – 14:04.84

200 medley relay

1. ND (A) – Ayhan (23.58), Gorski (26.58), Grauslys (22.50), Plaschka (19.88) – 1:32.54
2. ND (B) – Whitacre (23.83), Olszewski (28.09), Stewart (23.17), Bessire (21.34) – 1:36.43

400 free relay

1. ND (A) – Afrik (45.21), Speers (46.20), R. Fujan (45.57), Jackson (45.62) – 3:02.60

1-Meter Diving

2. ND – Peter Myers, Zane Parker: 509.70

3-Meter Diving

1. ND – Peter Myers, Zane Parker: 239.15

2. — Lizzie Mikes, Media Services Coordinator