With four top-three finishes for a total of 111 points, the Notre Dame women have surged ahead for an early lead at the 2008 BIG EAST Swimming & Diving Championships on Feb. 20 at the Nassau County Aquatic Center in East Meadow, N.Y. The Louisville men’s squad leads the field after two relays with 74 points.

Pittsburgh trails the Irish in second place with 97 points, while Connecticut is third with 80 points. On the men’s side, Notre Dame trails the Cardinals by six points with 68. West Virginia University is in third place with 60 points.

The Louisville women swam past the competition in the evening’s first race, edging both Notre Dame and West Virginia in the 800 freestyle relay for the win, stopping the clock at 7:16.14. The Cardinals, comprised of junior Leslie Van Winkle, sophomores Anna Dishuck and Liz Halet and freshman Sarah Andrews, along with the Mountaineers paced the field in to the third leg, but Dishuck’s strong start pushed the team ahead for good. The Fighting Irish finished second at 7:17.35 and the Mountaineers secured third at 7:17.69.

Notre Dame scored the first victory of the meet on the men’s side, taking the 800 freestyle relay with a time of 6:32.45. The Irish squad of sophomores John Lytle, Joshua Nosal and MacKenzie LeBlanc and freshman Joshua Nosal finished 3.09 seconds ahead of the Louisville team, which collected the second-place medal with a time of 6:35.54. Syracuse snagged third, touching the wall at 6:41.36.

The Mountaineer women sought revenge against the Cardinals in the third relay of the evening, sliding past both Louisville and Notre Dame for the 200 medley relay win with a time of 1:40.80. Sophomores Morgan Callaway, Kitti Veisz, Stephanie Shupe and Kayla Andrews combined for WVU’s first event win of the championships.

The last relay of the night saw the Louisville men and the West Virginia men battle in the 200 medley relay to the final touch, with the Cardinals finishing first at 1:27.81, 0.06 seconds in front of the Mountaineers. Senior Chris Lindauer, juniors Vali Preda and Adam Madarassy and sophomore Carlos Van Isschot combined for the win. Pittsburgh took third with a finish of 1:29.19.

The women also competed in the 1-meter dive, with Rutgers sophomore Erin Saunders taking the title with a final score of 268.30 points. Senior Allison Coleman of Connecticut finished second with 243.60 points, while sophomore Natalie Stitt of Notre Dame rounded out the top three with a score of 240.50 points.

The championships’ second session starts with the women’s 500 freestyle preliminaries at 10:00 a.m. on Feb. 21. Fans can catch all of the action live online by visiting www.bigeast.tv