Oct. 3, 2008
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Three meet records were set Friday evening at the Rolfs Aquatic Center during the 44th annual Dennis Stark Relays hosted by the Notre Dame swimming and diving team. Notre Dame managed to set a pair of those records and topped the five-team field with 255 total points. Oakland was second with 204 points followed by Ball State (162), Cleveland State (106) and Marquette (74).
“This is a young team and we’re a work in progress,” said Irish head coach Tim Welsh. “What we saw today were some very good glimpses of what is soon to come. Our energy and efforts were great. We’re well underway but definitely not a finished product.”
The Irish wasted no time rewriting the records books by posting a 1:25.02 in the 200 Free Relay which was the meet’s first event. That team was guided by the efforts of John Lytle, Marshall Sherman, Thomas Van Volkenburg and David Anderson. Lytle waited until the final race of the evening, the 400 Free Relay, to help post another record along with Andrew Hoffman, Danny Lutkus and Joshua Nosal in 3:06.21.
The 400 Medley Relay team (Michael Sullivan, Peter Koppel, MacKenzie LeBlanc and Hoffman) took the title in 3:28.24 as did the 800 Free Relay (7:03.67) quartet of Steven Brus, Nosal, Lutkus and Sullivan.
Notre Dame’s third win came courtesy of a 3:57.58 in the 400 Back Relay (Jonathan Whitcomb, Kevin Rahill, B.J. Roth and Mitchell Sherman) with the fourth victory tagged on with Andrews Deters’ come-from-behind performance in the 1,000 Free. Deters and Ryan Belecanech bested the field in 9:34.52 as Oakland’s Tim Montague and Aaron Holdsworth teamed for a finish in 9:34.60.
Andrew Jensen, Pat Downing, Joe Rodgers and Marcin Unold of Oakland set a meet record in the 400 Back Relay (3:25.47).
Caleb Dunnichay and Eric Lex took the title in the 1-meter diving relay (633.45) with Michael Bulfin and Wesley Villaflor (616.85) placing second. The Dunnichay-Lex combo stayed on par with a win in the 3-meter synchronized diving event by posting 260.15 points.
Notre Dame returns to the pool Oct. 25 for a dual meet at USC, the second meeting ever between the two programs.
–ND–