Oct. 23, 2009
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Notre Dame finished first in 11 events Friday evening against Oakland at the Rolfs Aquatic Center to hand the visiting Grizzlies a 179-119 defeat in non-conference men’s swimming and diving action. The win improves Notre Dame’s dual meet record to 1-0.
“We were a bit uncertain of things because we have so many new faces on our roster,” Irish head coach Tim Welsh said. “After watching the team race tonight, I have to say we’ve improved since starting the season two weeks ago. This meet showed promise and we hope to make steady progress in each of the next three weeks.”
Notre Dame stays at home while welcoming Cleveland State and Miami (Ohio) on Oct. 31. The first race will begin at 2:00 p.m. (ET). The meet will mark the 25th anniversary of varsity competition in the Rolfs Aquatic Center.
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200 Medley Relay: Petar Petrovic (23.98) gave Notre Dame a clear lead after the first leg … Oakland inched ahead after the breast, while John McGinley (23.34) gained a bit of ground in the fly … coming from behind was John Lytle (20.04) who gave the Irish the win in 1:34.49 … Kevin Overholt rallied the B-team to a second-place finish in 1:35.20 after going 20.72 in the final stretch.
1,000 Free: Steven Brus (9:56.14) held an early lead but faded briefly prior to the midway point … Ryan Belecanech (9:48.55) put up a fight before finishing third … Brus was fourth overall.
200 Free: The outcome was never in doubt as Andrew Hoffman stroked to a first-place finish in 1:43.21 … Thomas Van Volkenburg (1:43.37) was second.
100 Back: Petrovic held a lead of .06 after the first lap and finished in 50.75 for top honors … Kevin Rahill was third overall in 53.38.
100 Breast: Christopher Johnson (58.07) was victorious in his first collegiate individual race … Joseph Raycroft (59.77) was third.
200 Fly: Tylor Gauger (1:54.76) was the first Irish swimmer to finish and placed second … Christopher Wills was one spot behind in 1:55.63.
50 Free: Notre Dame swept the top three spots behind the efforts of Lytle (20.81), Overholt (21.47) and David Anderson (22.03).
3-meter Diving: Eric Lex (369.15) led the top three scoring Irish divers … second place went to Caleb Dunnichay (350.5) and Wesley Villaflor (339.75) took third.
100 Free: Notre Dame had three of the top swimmers after the halfway mark … Lytle finished over a body-length ahead of the pack in 45.97 for his second individual win … Hoffman was second in 47.51 while Overholt held on to third in 47.89 … Anderson was fourth in 49.55.
200 Back: Petrovic (1:54.61) finished five seconds off of first place and touched third.
200 Breast: Raycroft (2:09.13) just missed out on silver honors while Bill Bass (2:13.27) was fifth.
500 Free: Bass tacked on an individual victory in 4:41.19 … Belecanech (4:43.69) took home the bronze.
100 Fly: Conor Evans was solid from the outside lane with a 52.67, good for second place … John McGinley (53.22) was third and Wesley Mullins (53.48) placed fourth.
1-meter Diving: Dunnichay (322.42) was first ahead of Lex (313.27) and Villaflor (300.00).
200 Individual Medley: Bass posted another win with a strong 1:56.85.
400 Free Relay: It was all Irish to cap off the evening … Lytle, Overholt, Van Volkenburg and Hoffman powered to a first-place finish in 3:07.40.
–ND–