After an impressive showing at the 2023 ACC Championship Meet last month, seven Notre Dame swimmers have earned invitations to attend the 2023 NCAA Championships: Jack Hoagland, Chris Guiliano, Tommy Janton, Thacher Scannell, Alec DeLong, Sean Faikish and Cason Wilburn. The meet will be held at the Jean K. Freeman Aquatic Center at the University of Minnesota from March 22-25.
Hoagland and Guiliano have the largest individual lineups with three events each.
Hoagland, a senior out of New Mexico, will swim the 400 IM and 500 and 1650 freestyle. He won the 400 IM at ACCs (3:41.15), took fourth in the 1650 (14:48.82) and fifth in the 500 (4:16.31). He holds the school record in the 400 IM (3:40.73).
Guiliano had a breakout meet in Greensboro a few weeks ago, winning his first ACC title in the 200 freestyle (1:32.43). He also finished third in the 50 (18.93) and 100 freestyle (41.85). The sophomore from Pennsylvania broke the school records in the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle with those aforementioned times. He subsequently broke his own record with an 18.88 leadoff performance in a time-trialed 200 freestyle relay. Guiliano will compete in each of those events in Minneapolis.
Freshman Tommy Janton is the final swimmer with individual events to swim at NCAAs, as he will compete in the 100 and 200 backstroke. Janton broke the school record in the 100 backstroke (45.61) and went 1:41.08 in the 200 backstroke, which ranks third all-time at Notre Dame. He was an A finalist in both events in Greensboro.
The four additional swimmers are heading west for relays. All three freestyle relay school records were broken at ACCs. Guiliano’s lead-off leg in the 200 was followed by Stephan Lukashev, Wilburn and Paulson. The 400 was Guiliano, Wilburn, DeLong and Scannell, and the 800 was Guiliano, Paulson, Hoagland and DeLong. The 400 freestyle relay team got the NCAA A cut with a time of 2:50.14.
In total, 270 male swimmers will head to Minneapolis. A pair of Irish divers — Daniel Knapp and Ben Nguyen — will compete this week at Zone C Championships in Bloomington with an NCAA bid on the line.