Feb. 15, 2001
The University of Notre Dame men’s swimming and diving team is in fourth place after day one of the 2001 BIG EAST Swimming and Diving Championships in Long Island, N.Y. The Irish have 117 points and trail four-time defending-champion Pittsburgh, which is in first place with 247 points. St. John’s (152) and Rutgers (134) also amassed more points than the Irish on the first day. Notre Dame has finished second in each of the past two BIG EAST Championships.
Junior Jonathan Pierce (Newburgh, Ind.) led the Irish, finishing third and breaking the school record he set at last year’s BIG EAST Championships in the 500 freestyle (4:30.96). This year, Pierce finished in 4:27.39, nearly four seconds faster than the previous Notre Dame mark. Freshman Matt Obringer (Jacksonville, Fla.) finished eighth in the event with a time of 4:34.60.
The Irish diving squad, which was undefeated in the dual-meet season, also performed well. Sophomore Andy Maggio (Cincinnati, Ohio) finished second in the one-meter competition with 302.70 points and senior Herb Huesman (Cincinnati, Ohio) was fourth with 282.90.
The 400-medley-relay team of seniors Brian Skorney (Staten Island, N.Y.), Ryan Verlin (Rye, N.Y.), Matt Grunewald (Centerville, Ohio) and sophomore Jason Fitzpatrick (Gilbert, Ariz.) also gained valuable points for the Irish with a seventh-place finish.
Full results of day one can be obtained at http://www.bigeast.org/sports/swimming. The 2001 BIG EAST Championships continue Friday with preliminaries at 10:30 a.m. and finals beginning at 6:30 p.m.