Jan. 26, 2001
The 18th-ranked University of Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving team (9-1) began a difficult 24-hour stretch of the 2000-01 dual meet season on a high note, defeating #23 Northwestern in Evanston, Ill., Thursday night, 154-146. The Irish will turn around and face #13 Michigan at home Friday, Jan. 26, at 4:00 p.m., swimming their second dual meet in 24 hours.
In the meet at Northwestern, Notre Dame was led by its usual top performers, but also flashed some quality depth in all the events. After the 400 medley relay team finished second in the first event of the evening, freshman Marie Labosky (Churchville, Pa.) started the individual events in top form for the Irish, taking first in the 1,000 freestyle. Labosky’s time of 10:03.16 is her best of the season in the event.
Northwestern’s Erin Swenson won the 200 freestyle in the next event, but Notre Dame’s Lindsay Moorhead (Carefree, Ariz.), Brenda Reilly (White Plains, NY) and Kristen Van Saun (Lawrence, Kan.) finished in second, third and fourth place, respectively, earning valuable meet points for their team.
Continuing her season-long dominance in the backstroke, junior Kelly Hecking (Rutherford, NJ) won the 100 backstroke with a season-best time of 56.00. Northwestern answered back once again with a victory in the 100 breaststroke, but Notre Dame’s Laurie Musgrave (Littleton, Colo.) finished second while teammate Allison Lloyd (Fort Wayne, Ind.) took third place, scoring important points for their team.
The Wildcats continued to bounce back, taking their second event in a row, with a victory in the 200 butterfly. But Lisa Garcia (Denver, Colo.) and Sarah Bowman (Cheshire, Conn.) were able to finish in second and fourth place, respectively, to keep the Irish in first place.
Notre Dame’s Danielle Hulick (Galesburg, Ill.) followed with a victory in the 50 freestyle (24.10) while also placing second in the 100 freestyle (52.14) just two events later. Sandwiched between Hulick’s performances was the first diving victory of the evening for junior Heather Mattingly (Houston, Texas). Mattingly claimed first in one-meter diving with 297.98 points and would later take first in the three-meter event with a season-best 351.15. It was the second consecutive meet Mattingly has swept both diving events, as she placed first in the one- and three-meter at the Wolverine Invitational (Jan. 12-13).
Next up was the 200 backstroke and Hecking earned her second individual victory of the meet, taking first in 2:00.47. It was another season-best time for Hecking, improving her previous 200 backstroke time by three seconds.
Labosky highlighted the second half of the meet for the Irish, winning both the 500 freestyle (4:57.28) and the 200 individual medley (2:04.51). Labosky’s three first-place finishes versus the Wildcats give the Irish freshman 16 individual event victories this season.
Notre Dame will hope to carry the momentum of Thursday’s victory into Friday’s matchup with Michigan. The meet begins at 4 p.m., in the Rolfs Aquatic Center.