Both the Notre Dame men's and women's swimming and diving teams maintained their leads and earned the title of 2006 BIG EAST Champions at the 2006 BIG EAST Swimming & Diving Championships held at the Nassau Aquatic Center in East Meadow, N.Y. The women's title marks the tenth consecutive for the Irish, while it's the second in a row for the men.

In the women's standings, Rutgers finished second and Pittsburgh rounded out the top three, while in the men's points totals, Pittsburgh placed in the number two slot with West Virginia earning third.

Also awarded at the final day of the championships were the yearly honors. Rutgers' Kelly Harrigan and West Virginia's Chris Hagedorn won the Most Outstanding Swimmers awards. With the accolade, Harrigan became only the third women's swimmer in BIG EAST Swimming history to earn the honor in consecutive years.

The 2006 Most Outstanding Diver awards went to Pittsburgh's Jeremy Stultz and co-winners, Pittsburgh's Kristin Calazzo and Connecticut's Allison Coleman. Rutgers' Chuck Warner was named the Women's Swimming Coach of the Year, while West Virginia's Sergio Lopez was given the award for the Men's Swimming Coach of the Year. Diving Coaches of the Year were also named. The honors went to UConn's John Bransfield for the women and Notre Dame's Caiming Xie for the men.

In the final day of the '06 championships, . Harrigan earned her fourth conference title in the 200 Backstroke, bettering the NCAA `A' standard with a time of 1:54.76. The mark also broke her own BIG EAST record that was set during the '04 meet.

Villanova's Jenny Sommerville captured her third consecutive 1650 Freestyle crown with a NCAA `B' Cut time of 16:29.92. Rutgers' Madison Kennedy earned the women's title in the 100 Free earning a mark of 49.33. The title marked her second individual title during the championships and qualified the freshman for the NCAA Championships

In additional women's action, Notre Dame's Julia Quinn captured the 200 Breaststroke title, completing the event with a time of 2:14.27. Anne Degenstein of Cincinnati set a BIG EAST record and earned the conference title in the 200 Butterfly with a mark of 1:58.28.

Louisville's Vali Preda earned his third title of the meet with a first place finish in the men's 200 Breast, in a conference record time of 1:56.95. Hagedorn captured the conference title in men's 100 Free with a mark of 44.48, his second individual title during the '06 championships. Also earning his second title during the meet was Notre Dame's Jay Vanden Berg, who captured the conference title in the 1650 Free, earning a time of 15:15.99

Rounding out men's action, WVU's Pablo Marmolejo earned his second consecutive conference title in the 200 Fly with a time of 1:45.56. Pittsburgh's Jeff Leath finished the 200 Back in a time of 1:46.68, giving him the first place finish and the conference title.

In relay action, the Rutgers women completed a clean sweep of the relays during the '06 championships with a first place finish in the 400 Free relay, with a conference record time of 3:20.48. In the men's relay action, West Virginia captured the 400 Free relay with a mark of 2:57.39.

Jeremy Stultz of Pittsburgh won his second diving title of the meet when he earned a score of 572.85 in the men's 3-Meter event. Also in diving action, there was a non-scoring platform diving. For the men, Alex Volovetski of Pittsburgh earned the highest mark, 200.60, while Tara Hyer of ND won it for the women with a score of 156.10.

2006 BIG EAST Swimming & Diving Awards
Women's Outstanding Swimmer -  Kelly Harrigan, Rutgers
Men's Outstanding Swimmer - Chris Hagedorn, West Virginia

Women's Co-Outstanding Divers - Kristen Calazzo, Pittsburgh Allison Coleman, Connecticut Men's Outstanding Diver - Jeremy Stultz, Pittsburgh

Women's Swimming Coach of the Year - Chuck Warner, Rutgers Men's Swimming Coach of the Year - Sergio Lopez, West Virginia

Women's Diving Coach of the Year - John Bransfield, Connecticut Men's Diving Coach of the Year - Caiming Xie, Notre Dame

Women's Outstanding Swimmer - Rutgers Kelly Harrigan Men's Outstanding Swimmer - West Virigina Chris Hagedorn 
			
		
		

				
					

						
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