The University of Notre Dame men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams had several top performances Friday night, in the first of three sessions in the Shamrock Invitational.
“On the women’s side, we’re swimming as well as we did at our fall invitational at Purdue; and that’s a great sign,” head coach Mike Litzinger said. “The women are right on track in our training, and we’re starting to get really sharp – their ACC meet is a week in front of the men. The women certainly delivered today with some season best times, and our relays were really well put together. I’m pretty pleased with the women, and in diving we swept one-two-three – that was a really nice performance for them.
“On the guys’ side, we’re in a little bit of a different spot,” Litzinger continued. “We’re racing really hard, but our training is about a week behind the women so our guys feel fast, but in reality we’re not ready to go guns a-blazing yet. There’s a lot of things that we need to correct; I’ve only been working with the men’s team about two months, but they’re doing a great job, and their hearts are into it. We’ve just got to get a little bit better if we want to do something special at the ACCs.”
In addition to sweeping in diving (Emma Gaboury scored 284.65, Lindsey Streepey 276.30 and Annie Crea took 275.30), the women took first through third in the 500 free as well. Ella Moynihan had the top time (4:55.07), followed by Alice Treuth (4:59.30) and Molly Treble (5:01.53). They also finished first in the 200 free relay and the 400 medley relay.
On the men’s side, the A team of Justin Plaschka, Tabahn Afrik, Reed Fujan and Daniel Speers took second in the 200 free relay (1:21.25) and third in the 400 medley relay; Bogac Ayhan, Andrew Jensen, Matthew Grauslys and Afrik clocked in at 3:20.20. The Irish had 11 etrants in the 200 IM, with Kevin Bradley earning the top finish in fifth place (1:51.48).
“I think we talked all week long about swimming for the seniors, and making their last home experience a great one,” Litzinger stated. “I don’t think there’s any doubt that there will be some emotion amongst the teams in terms of a last swim at Rolfs, but I think it will be business as usual; we’re here to compete, we’re here to swim fast, and our seniors have done that tonight and will continue to do so tomorrow.”
The Saturday morning session kicks off at 10 a.m. ET, with diving beginning at 1 p.m. Seniors will be honored approximately at 3:45 p.m., before the last heat of the 1650 free begins.
Iowa Men
The University of Iowa men's swimming and diving team posted a relay victory during the opening day of the Shamrock Invitational at Notre Dame’s Rolfs Aquatic Center.
Iowa opened the night with a first-place finish in the 200-free relay with senior Jackson Allen, junior Jackson Halsmer, junior Brandon Farnum, and freshman Jack Smith sprinting to a time of 1:21.25.
Sophomore Chris Dawson brought the Hawkeyes a third place finish in the 500 free in 4:32.91.
The Hawkeyes closed out the night with a runner-up finish in the 400-medley relay. The quartet of freshman Kenneth Mende, senior Roman Trussov, sophomore Jerzy Twarowski, and Smith swam to a time of 3:14.23.
The Hawkeyes excelled in the diving well on the opening night, finishing with two top three finishes on the 3-meter springboard. Senior Addison Boschult finished second with a score of 320.65, followed by senior Andrew Hull in third with a score of 308.05.
Iowa Women
The University of Iowa women's swimming and diving team closed out the opening day of the Shamrock Invitational with an individual victory in the 200-IM at Notre Dame’s Rolfs Aquatic Center.
Junior Emma Sougstad finished the 200 IM with a time of 2:02.91. The Forest City, Iowa native was also a member of the runner-up 200-free relay and third-place 400-medley relay.
Sougstad was joined on the 200-free relay by senior Olivia Kabacinski, sophomore Nikol Lagodzinska, and junior Taylor Flummerfelt. The times in the race were not official.
In the 400-medley relay, Sougstad was joined by sophomores Rowan Hauber, Tereysa Lehnertz, and Lagodzinska. The quartet finished with a time of 3:47.07.
Missouri State
The Missouri State men's swimming team completed the first of three sessions at the Shamrock Invitational inside Rolfs Aquatic Center Friday, Jan. 29, and had two of its top showings as a team in the 500-yard freestyle and 200-yard IM.
Senior Miguel Davila led the Bears in the 500 free by registering a season-best time of 4 minutes, 26.95 seconds for first place. Minki Kang (4:29.95) followed him for runner-up honors and Ethan Bresette (4:33.49) placed fourth.
Freshmen Bryce Blattner (4:37.35) and Michael Mollak (4:37.60) finished seventh and eighth, respectively, with Mollak coming into the wall in a personal-best mark.
Artur Osvath came in a team-best third in the 200 IM by finishing in a time of 1:50.20. Kacper Cwiek took eighth in 1:52.36 and Uvis Kalnins placed ninth in 1:52.57. Also among the Bears’ top finishers in the 200 IM included Nicholas Theunissen (1:53.61) who came in 12th and Christopher Heye (1:55.36) who placed 14th among all swimmers.
MSU’s top relay finish came in the 400 medley relay, with the Bears’ ‘A’ relay of Blattner, Isaac Springer, Osvath and Kalnins placing seventh in a time of 3:23.17. The Bears’ ‘B’ relay also had a top-10 finish with William Frisbie, Uldis Tazans, Cwiek and Brenden Bolman touching the wall in 3:26.15.
The Bears’ ‘A’ 200 free relay of Osvath, Bolman, Mollak and Will Brand placed 10th in the event, finishing just .51 seconds away from the team’s fastest time this season.
Illinois State
The Illinois State swimming and diving team finished its first day of the two-day Shamrock Invitational, hosted by Notre Dame, Friday evening. No team scores were kept.
The Redbirds competed against Iowa, Grand Canyon and host Notre Dame, as well as Clemson’s diving squad.
Courtney Taylor was among a few of Illinois State’s top finishers of the evening with a time of 2:09.68 seconds in the 200-yard individual medley event.
Laura Paskoff finished the 500-yard freestyle event with a time of 5:24.58 seconds with teammate Brittany Felice right behind, swimming a time of 5:25.42 seconds.
Redbird diving competed in the 1-meter event Friday. Molly Schatz earned a total point score of 195.85 points, while Kelly Sanks received 183.65 points and Kristen Larson earned 153.55 points.
The Redbirds will continue competition tomorrow.
