Notre Dame Sweeps Michigan State

A plethora of Irish student-athletes turned in impressive days, but arguably none more so than sophomore Kelly Ryan. The Hinsdale, Ill., native won the 50 free, the 100 and 200 backstrokes and swam a leg of the winning 400 free relay.

Winning three events were Amy Prestinario (100 free, 200 IM, 400 medley relay) and Emma Reaney (200 free, 100 fly, 400 free relay), while Christen McDonough (100 breast, 400 medley relay), Lauren Stauder (200 breast, 400 medley relay), Bridget Casey (200 fly, 500 free) and Lauren Scott (400 free and medley relays) each won two events.

Notre Dame continues its homestand next weekend, when it hosts the Shamrock Invitational on Friday and Saturday.

Event-By-Event Results

400 Medley Relay: The Notre Dame A and C relays distanced themselves from the pack immediately with strong backstroke and breaststroke legs … Amy Prestinario closed strong for the A squad, giving them the victory in 3:51.35 … the C team finished in 3:51.81.

1,000 Free: Michigan State’s KJ Burkland took the early lead … the Irish’s Jaime Malandra caught Burkland just after the 400 yard mark and never looked back in route to a 10:21.47 showing … Erin Foley claimed the bronze in 10:25.22.

200 Free: Suzanne Bessire led early, but teammate Emma Reaney overcame her late to take the win in 1:51.25 … Bessire held on to silver in 1:52.84.

100 Back: Irish standout Kelly Ryan registered the win for the Irish in 56.08 … Kim Holden, making her first appearance of the 2011-12 season after offseason surgery, finished in second with a 56.60 performance.

100 Breast: Christen McDonough pulled away from the pack after the first 50 and cruised on to finish in 1:05.07, good for another Irish victory … Lauren Stauder took the silver medal for Notre Dame, touching the pad in 1:06.28.

200 Fly: Bridget Casey (2:02.17), Sarah Dotzel (2:06.24), Lauren Scott (2:06.84) and Emily Barton (2:10.26) combined for a 1-2-3-4 finish,respectively.

50 Free: Ryan continued the winning streak for the Irish as she picked up thevictory with a 23.65 showing … Prestinario took the bronze in 24.04 while Hannah Bowen (24.22) and Bessire (24.63) rounded out the Irish attack with fourth and fifth-place finishes.

100 Free: Prestinario took the win for the Irish in51.43 for the eighth straight victory of the day for Notre Dame … Mikelle Masciantonio took third for the Irish in 53.44.

200 Back: Ryan and Reaney teamed for a 1-2 finish for the Irish … Ryan got to an early lead and paced to a 2:02.60 performance …Reaney clocked in at 2:04.59.

200 Breast: Stauder took control of the race from the start and powered her way to a 2:19.25 and her first individual victory on theday … McDonough finished in second for Notre Dame in 2:27.72.

500 Free: Bridget Casey (5:02.40) took the early lead and held off Michigan State’s Hannah Pugh for the victory … Grace Fredlake and Bessire finished in third and fourth place, respectively, with times of 5:08.69 and 5:09.18.

100 Fly: Reaney picked up her second individual win of the day with her 55.65 showing … Dotzel clocked in next at 56.03 and a second-place finish.

200 IM: It was a tight race through the finish, but Prestinario edged Alex Pierce of Michigan State for the victory in 2:08.15.

400 Free Relay: The quartet of Reaney, Ryan, Bessire and L. Scott took the win with a 3:28.64 performance … the squad of Bowen, Malandra, Dotzel and Fredlake finished in 3:36.87 and in third place.

1-meter Diving: Allison Casareto won the 1-meter board with 304.12 points … Jenny Chiang claimed the silver, accumulating 287.40 points.

3-meter Diving: Chiang and Casareto combined for yet another Irish 1-2 finish on the afternoon … Chiang tallied 342.83 points while Casareto totaled 326.77 points.




Notre Dame downed a Big Ten Conference foe for the second time in as many weeks Saturday at the Rolfs Aquatic Center while defeating Michigan State, 174-121, in a men’s swimming and diving dual meet.

The Irish parlayed a win last week over Northwestern with a defeat of Michigan State to redeem a loss to the Spartans during the 2011-12 season.

The win improved Notre Dame’s overall record to 5-3 heading into next week’s Shamrock Invitational (Jan. 27-28) to cap off the regular season.

The Shamrock Invitational will serve as a final tuneup for the 2012 BIG EAST Conference Swimming and Diving Championships held Feb. 10-18 in Pittsburgh, Pa.

200 Medley Relay: After Petar Petrovic paced the Irish with a lead-off leg of 24.19, Cameron Miller pulled the Irish into a three-way tie with Michgian State’s top two squads … Frank Dyer took the lead with a perfect relay start and Kevin Overholt held as the Irish won the event in 1:31.04.

1,650 Free: Jimmy McEldrew took the lead from the start and never looked back, clocking in at 15:44.39 … fellow freshmen John Nappi (15:50.12) was second and Brennan Jacobsen (15:55.03) rounded out a 1-2-3 finish by the Irish.

200 Free: In a highly contested race, Overholt was able to hang on for the win in 1:40.90 … John McGinley finished in a close third in 1:41.46.

100 Back: Michigan State’s Jacob Jarzen earned the first Sparty victory with a 49.85 showing … Petrovic recorded a 51.29, which was good for the silver medal.

100 Breast: Miller out-touched Colin Babcock for the fourth Irish victory on the day … Miller finished in 56.82 while Babcock touched the pad in 56.92.

200 Fly: The Spartans’ Bryan Williams led wire-to-wire, taking the victory in 1:50.11 … Bill Bass finished close behind in 1:51.98 … Matthew Deblasio and Tylor Gauger took third and fourth, respectively, with times of 1:53.60 and 1:54.20.

50 Free: It was an all Notre Dame affair as the Irish registered a 1-2-3 finish … Dyer finished first in 20.69 with Christopher Johnson (21.18) and Zach Stephens (21.36) touching the wall in second and third place.

100 Free: Overholt and McGinley combined for a 1-2 finish for Notre Dame … Overholt touched the pad in 45.95 while McGinley finish in 46.53.

200 Back: The Spartan’s Jarzen lead throughout the race, finishing in 1:48.84 … Bertie Nel held on for second place for the entirety of the race, clocking in at 1:51.93.

200 Breast: Miller crushed the field with his 2:01.10 performance … that showing was more than five seconds ahead of the second place finisher … Johnson took third for the Irish in 2:08.61.

500 Free: Deblasio took the win from lane eight in 4:36.09 … classmates Kevin Hughes and McEldrew finish closely behind in second and third place with times of 4:39.18 and 4:40.91, respectively.

100 Fly: Dyer failed to catch Michigan State’s Williams on the final lap of the race … Dyer finish in 49.32, just a hair behind Williams.

200 IM: Miller placed fourth for the Irish in 1:58.45 … Bass clocked in at 1:51.68 as an exhibition swimmer … his time would have been good enough for a first-place finish … Zach Stephens and Babcock registered times of 1:53.22 and 1:54.11, respectively, as exhibition swimmers.

400 Free Relay: Conor Evans, Jonathan Whitcomb, Jack Donvoan and Jordan Berry teamed up for a third-place finish in 3:14.95.

1-meter Diving: Nick Nemetz ran away from the field off the 1-meter board with a total of 353.85 … Michael Kreft (310.35), Ted Wagner (270.45) and Sean Rademaker (256.50) rounded out the Irish attack with second, third and fourth place finishes, respectively.

3-meter Diving: The Irish swept the 3-meter event with performances of 354.23 points by Nemetz, 342.83 points by Kreft, 329.48 points by Wagner and 272.25 points by Rademaker.