Jan. 30, 2010
Complete Results | Photo Gallery 
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Christopher Johnson and Joseph Raycroft led the Notre Dame men’s swimming and diving team to a clean sweep of the breaststroke events Saturday to close the Shamrock Invitational at the Rolfs Aquatic Center. Johnson went 57.34 in the 100-yard version while Raycroft logged a 2:05.36 in the extended race, as Notre Dame (5-6) picked up a 245-124 win over visiting Denver in dual meet action. Iowa (197-171) and Missouri (197-173) each defeated the Irish on Senior Day.
“There were great meets all over the field and I think this was a very good event for all the participating teams,” Irish head coach Tim Welsh said. “For our team, we swam better in each session. One of the things we were proud of was that we continued to perform better as the meet went on. When we did the numerical comparison to find out where we were in this meet in 2010 compared to 2009, we found out that we are faster. That kind of progress is a hopeful sign for us. Congrats to the men on working hard for three sessions and I appreciate the visiting teams for bringing so much spirit to the meet.”
Iowa defeated Denver (236-125) and Missouri (184.5-183.5) to leave the invite with a trio of wins. Missouri defeated Denver, 235-134. The Hawkeyes’ 400 and 800 free relays recorded NCAA B-cuts.
Notre Dame now looks ahead to the 2010 BIG EAST Championships hosted by Pittsburgh. The defending champions take part in the league’s diving action Feb. 12-14 with the swimming portion held Feb. 17-20 at Trees Pool.
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200 Medley Relay: Petar Petrovic (24.08) kept the Irish in contention through his backstroke leg of the relay event … Johnson (25.87) fell behind the streaking Missouri squad but kept the race for second place tight with the Iowa squad … Bill Bass (22.38) spun through the butterfly portion, handing the race over to the freestyle anchor … John Lytle’s furious pace (20.15) was not enough to steal second, and the Irish (1:32.48) settled for third place … the Missouri squad of Jan Konarzewski, Michael Lopresti, Anders Melin, and Jordan Hawley took the top spot of the podium (1:30.72).
400 Individual Medley: Peter Koppel took the early lead in the distance medley, with the top time through the butterfly leg … but he relinquished his lead to teammate Michael Sullivan on the backstroke portion … after the breaststroke, Sullivan was in a three-way race for the gold but could not hold on to that lead and settled for the bronze (4:01.72) … Denver’s Clayton Myers took the gold with a readout of 3:57.18.
100 Butterfly: Bass was the highest Irish finisher in the sprint butterfly and took fifth place with a posting of (50.59) … Denver’s Scott Madaras took the gold with at time of 49.36.
200 Freestyle: Lytle jumped to an early lead in the first portion of the race and ended up taking third overall with a time of 1:40.80 … Iowa’s Jordan Huff took the top prize with a time of 1:39.65.
100 Breaststroke: Johnson held the slightest of leads after the first half of the race, only .03 seconds ahead of his competition … he fended off late charges by two competitors to provide the Irish their first victory of the morning in 57.34.
100 Backstroke: Petrovic sliced through the water to a strong second-place finish, banging the pad with a time of 50.12 … Missouri’s Jan Konarzewski took the top place with a time of 49.36.
800 Freestyle Relay: The quartet of Lytle (1:41.55), John McGinley (1:42.92), MacKenzie LeBlanc (1:42.73) and Andrew Hoffman (1:42.97) touched in at fourth place (6:50.18) … Iowa’s squad of Jordan Huff, Duncan Partridge, Brian Farris and Paul Gordon took the gold medal in a NCAA B-cut time of 6:42.22.
1-meter Diving: Wesley Villaflor (323.70) was second and Nathan Geary (308.05) was fifth overall.
1,650 Freestyle: Andrew Deters was the highest Irish finisher in the event, touching the wall in 16:03.57 for fourth place … Denver’s Clayton Myers took the top spot with a watch readout of 15:51.19.
200 Backstroke: Petrovic turned in the top Irish performance in the distance backstroke, slicing his way to a time of 1:51.50 and fifth place … Sullivan was close behind (1:52.04) to snag sixth … Missouri’s Jan Konarzewski took first place (1:48.28).
100 Freestyle: Lytle snagged some more hardware for the meet, capturing the second-place position with a solid time of 45.16 … Iowa’s Paul Gordon took first with a blistering 44.77 … Joshua Nosal came in sixth (46.35).
200 Breaststroke: Raycroft (2:05.36) came away with the elusive gold in the distance breaststroke, edging out Iowa’s Sean Hagan by only .03 seconds … the win gave the Irish their second victory of the day.
200 Butterfly: Denver’s Scott Madaras (1:49.69) darted out to an early lead … Bass was in hot pursuit, nearly chasing him down … Bass ran out of room at the end and had to settle for second place (1:49.94) … LeBlanc touched in at fourth (1:52.49).
400 Freestyle Relay: The squad of Lytle (45.28), McGinley (45.98), Nosal (45.08) and Hoffman (45.12) turned in a great performance for the Irish (3:01.46), securing second place in the final event of the night … the Iowa quartet of Jordan Huff, Ryan Phelan, Duncan Partridge and Paul Gordon took the final gold of the meet in 2:59.68 for an NCAA B-cut.
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