Feb. 17, 2001
The University of Notre Dame men’s swimming and diving team finished fourth out of 13 teams in the 2001 BIG EAST Swimming and Diving Championships in Long Island, N.Y. Pittsburgh claimed its fifth consecutive conference championship with 647 points. St. John’s (428) was second and Virginia Tech (417) finished third, while the Irish had 385.5 points. Notre Dame has now finished in the top four in the last four BIG EAST Championships after being conference runners-up the past two years and finishing fourth in 1998.
The best event for Notre Dame on Saturday was the 200 breaststroke, in which sophomore Jason Fitzpatrick (Gilbert, Ariz.) finished third in 2:02.54 and senior Dan Szilier (Norristown, Pa.) was fifth.
Junior Jonathan Pierce (Newburgh, Ind.) finished fourth in the 1,650 freestyle with a time of 15:43.73 after winning the event in the previous two conference meets. Pierce broke his own school record in the 500 freestyle on Thursday. Freshman J.R. Teddy (Spring, Texas) also gained valuable points for Notre Dame, finishing eighth.
Other top performers for Notre Dame were senior Ryan Verlin (Rye, N.Y.) and the 400 freestyle relay team. Verlin finished sixth in the 200 butterfly and the team of Adam Cahill (Richmond, Ky.), Matt Hedden (Westerville, Ohio), Austin Anderson (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Matt Obringer (Jacksonville, Fla.) finished eighth.
The Irish will return to action next weekend in the Shamrock Classic from Feb. 24-25 in the Rolfs Aquatic Center in the Joyce Center at Notre Dame.
Full results from all three days of the 2001 BIG EAST Championships can be obtained at http://www.bigeast.org/sports/swimming.