Call it the unluck of the Irish. While South Bend prepares for another onslaught of snow, the University of Notre Dame's men's swimmers and men's and women's divers have tornadoes to contend with. The squads made the trip across Ireland from Dublin to Limerick on Tuesday to finish their training and competition trip at the University of Limerick's University Arena and the National 50m Pool. The Irish were originally scheduled to train at the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin this week, but the facility has been shut down indefinitely after it sustained damage to its roof from a tornado on Saturday. No one was injured, as the NAC was closed for New Year's Day.

The swimmers will return to Limerick for a second time after training there from Friday through Sunday, while the divers will make their first jaunt to the city near the western coast of the Emerald Isle. The Irish trip will wind down this weekend, with the travel party heading home on Sunday in time to begin spring-semester classes on Tuesday.

Notre Dame head coach and former English professor (at Winthrop College and Syracuse University) Tim Welsh responded by composing his own limerick from the town that lent its name to the poem. A limerick is a humorous five-line anapestic verse with rhyme scheme aabba.

A Limerick from Limerick on New Year's Day Events in Dublin (by Tim Welsh)

We came to the Emerald Isle
To swim and to dive for awhile.

A tornado went "Poof!"

And blew off the pool roof.

No more diving. "It" happens. Smile!