Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame athletic programs take pride in their senior classes, but today meant a little something extra to the women’s swimming class of 2016. The squad swept Iowa (258-111), Illinois State (312-58) & Grand Canyon (254-115) in the Shamrock Invitational meet, while honoring seven seniors.
“Our women did great today,” Irish head coach Mike Litzinger said. “The mindset going into the 400 free relay was simply that when we swam that relay at the Purdue Invitational, we got disqualified in it; so the goal was to improve our seed time for the ACC Championships and bump us up with some elite teams there – because we know we can swim with them, and having that championship-type format tends to bring out the best in people.
“The goal was simply to improve our seed time, but when we looked at the pool record and looked at the splits we knew we had an outside shot at it. I let the girls know what they had to average, and they took care of the rest,” Litzinger said.
Catherine Mulquin (50.07), Ella Moynihan (49.86), Catherine Galletti (50.52) and Sofia Revilak (49.84) took first in the 400 free relay with their 3:20.29 showing. The new record beat the old time of 3:21.16 set in 2013, which Galletti also swam in as a freshman.
Says Litzinger on Galletti’s phenomenal performances in 2015-16, “I think Cat has had to manage some injury throughout her career, and had to be shutdown for awhile; but she’s come back. Our program helped her regain confidence in her swimming and her strength and she showed some of that tonight; she did a really nice job. We’re going to look to her to be our flier on our medley relays, and Cat’s a key part of our sprint relays . She’s got a heck of an individual fly and backstroke. The goal is NCAAs, and NCAAs individually, and I think she’s very capable of doing that.”
Other top individual performances from the Irish women’s team Saturday included Katie Miller winning the 400 IM (4:23.91), Moynihan taking top marks in the 200 free (1:51.35), and Revilak (54.95), Galletti (55.93) and Nicole Smith (56.06) taking first through third (Smith tying for third) in the 100 fly.
On the diving boards, Lindsey Streepey and Emma Gaboury finished first and second in women’s three meter. Streepey scored 316.80, while Gaboury scored 300.70. Other diving scores included Annie Crea (seventh, 273.15), Christine Stitcher (eighth, 261.80) and Deidre Worth (258.95).
On the men’s side, individual results were equally impressive. The Irish beat Missouri State 230-128, but lost to Iowa (220-150) and Grand Canyon (224.5-145.5).
“I think for our guys, the goal today was to get out and race,” Litzinger commented. “These two sessions were really good for us. We had really great events, and we have some really great talent in those events. Everyone stepped forward and did a much better job. We still have some teaching to do – our sprint relays are really good, and our 800 free relay is really good, but we have to work on meshing those legs together. We got close to that today in the 400 free relay, but in our 800 free relay our individual results were much better than our combined effort. If we’re going to do something special at the ACC conference meet we need to work on that. Our men’s team is a solid group; they’re a lot of fun, they know what they want to do, and they’re working really hard at that.”
Top performances by the Irishmen included freshman butterflier Matt Grauslys’ fourth place finish in the 100 fly (49.17) and junior Trent Jackson’s first place showing in the 200 free (1:40.00). Senior Bogac Ayhan took third in 100 back (49.63), followed by Rob Whitacre (49.70) in fourth and Grauslys in sixth (51.28). Whitacre also had the top time in the 200 back, touching the wall fourth (1:49.41).
When asked which performance stood out the most to him, Litzinger was hard-pressed to pick just one race. “I really like watching Trent Jackson swim; he’s gone from a freestyler to breaststroker for us to fill a need. We have some capable breaststrokers, but they’re a little young. So he fell into that role, not by accident but by talent, and he’s really run with it. Our sprint guys are really good too, Daniel Speers, Tabahn Afrik, Justin Plaschka; they’re all just tremendous athletes. We’re going to rein them in, and tighten some things up, and we look forward to seeing what we can do at the end of the year.”
Iowa Men
The University of Iowa men's swimming and diving team went 2-1 at the two-day Shamrock Invitational, posting victories over Notre Dame (220-150) and Missouri State (243-121), while falling to Grand Canyon (202-168). The Hawkeyes are 5-3 in duals season.
Iowa opened the day with a runner-up finish in the 200-medley relay. Freshman Kenneth Mende, senior Roman Trussov, senior Jackson Allen, and freshman Jack Smith swam to a time of 1:28.56.
Trussov also notched a Hawkeye win, finishing with the top time in the 100 breast in 54.83 seconds. Trussov was also the runner-up in the 200 breast in 2:00.21.
Iowa had a number of runner-up finishes on the day.
Mende finished second in the 100 back in 48.77 seconds; senior Luke Snow placed second in the 200 free (1:40.09), sophomore Jerzy Twarowski was the runner-up in the 200 fly (1:49.51), and the 800 free relay of Snow, Jackson Allen, Smith, and freshman Matt Kamin was second in 6:39.74.
Sophomore Chris Dawson posted a pair of third-place finishes in the 400-IM and 1,650 free. He finished with a time of 4:01.72 in the 400 IM and 15:54.47 in the mile.
Mende also notched a third-place finish in the 200 back (1:48.41), Twarowski was third in the 100 fly (48.47), and the 400-free relay consisting of Snow, Smith, Jackson Allen, and Kamin were third in 2:59.92.
Iowa flourished in the diving well Saturday, finishing with the top three finishes off the 1-meter springboard. Freshman Will Brenner was the 1-meter champion with a score of 327.10, followed by senior Addison Boschult (308.80), and senior Brandis Heffner (301.25).
The Hawkeyes return to action Friday, hosting Western Illinois in their final home dual of the season at the CRWC Natatorium.
Iowa Women
The University of Iowa women's swimming and diving team went 2-1 at the two-day Shamrock Invitational at the Rolfs Aquatic Center, downing Illinois State (302-67) and Grand Canyon (202-167) and dropping a road dual to Notre Dame (258-111). The Hawkeyes are 7-4 in duals this season.
Iowa opened the day with a 2-3-4-5 finish in the 200-medley relay. Senior Allie Orvis, junior Emma Sougstad, sophomore Tereysa Lehnertz, and senior Olivia Kabacinski swam to a runner-up time of 1:43.41, while sophomore Meghan Lavelle, freshman Katie Wells, sophomore Jo Jekel, and sophomore Nikol Lagodzinska were third in 1:44.45.
Sougstad also won a pair of individual titles, claiming wins in the 100 breast (1:01.64) and 200 breast (2:15.42). It was her third win of the weekend, as she also won the 200 IM Friday night.
Freshman Abbey Schneider posted a win in the 1,650 free, finishing with a time of 17:11.19. Izzie Bindseil was fourth in 17:38.41. Lehnertz was the runner-up in the 200 fly, with a time of 2:03.29.
Iowa registered a pair of third-place finishes in the 400 IM and 200 free. Freshman Abbey Schneider took third in the 400-IM with a time of 4:26.98, while junior Serena Wanasek was third in the 200 free in 1:53.08.
In the final two relays, Iowa posted third-place finishes in the 400-free and 800-free relays. Wanasek, Kabacinski, Lagodzinska, and sophomore Carly O’Brien swam to a finishing time of 7:32.39 in the 800, and Lagodzinska, Sougstad, O’Brien, and Taylor Flummerfelt had a time of 3:26.00 to in the 400.
The Hawkeyes return to action Friday, hosting Western Illinois in their final home dual of the season at the CRWC Natatorium.
Illinois State
The Illinois State swimming and diving team finished its second day of competition at the Shamrock Invitational, hosted at Notre Dame, Saturday night.
The invitational was scored as a multi-team dual meet, and the Redbirds came up short against its three opponents: Notre Dame, Iowa and Grand Canyon. Notre Dame won the met with a 3-0 record against its opponents.
Illinois State head swimming coach Scott Cameron was pleased with his team’s last session of the competition.
“With this being the last meet to prep for the Missouri Valley Conference Championships, we had some very specific goals for our athletes,” said Cameron. “They did a great job of putting the pieces together and working through a tough week of training and setting themselves up to be great in a few weeks at conference.”
Illinois State’s 200-yard medley relay consisting of Rachel Root, Rachel Holm, Katie Breger, and Sarah Thomas finished in a time of 1:49.79 seconds.
Savannah Rubocki placed sixth in the 1650-yard freestyle event (18:08.06) and earned seventh in the 400-yard individual medley (4:37.14). Courtney Taylor swam to eighth place in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:06.16).
Illinois State head diving coach, Phil Hoffmann was happy with the way his divers competed.
“This was a good tune-up for us and it helps to give me an idea of what we need to work on over the next few weeks before conference,” said Hoffmann. “I am looking forward to competing at UIC.”
Illinois State diving will compete Feb. 6 at the UIC Diving Invitational. The entire squad will compete next at the MVC Championships, Feb. 17-20, in Carbondale, Illinois.
Missouri State
Missouri State men’s swimming closed out its final event of its regular season Saturday, Jan. 30, as the Bears earned three victories to conclude action at the Shamrock Invitational inside Rolfs Aquatic Center.
The Invitational served as duals between all four teams competing. The Bears fell to No. 25 Notre Dame 230-128, Iowa 243-121 and Grand Canyon 245-119.
MSU’s Miguel Davila finished with two season-best times on Saturday. In the opening individual event of the day, the 400-yard IM, Davila touched the wall in a time of 3 minutes, 58.77 seconds for his first win of the day. Christopher Heye (4:02.08), Ethan Bresette (4:02.91), Bryce Blattner (4:03.60) and Canaan Campbell (4:04.69) all placed among the top eight swimmers in the event, while Nicholas Theunissen (4:08.29) finished in 11th.
Davila also wound up with the fastest time in the 1650 freestyle by coming in at 15:27.41, ahead of runner-up and fellow Bear Minki Kang (15:33.27). Bresette (16:07.44) also placed among the top eight in the 1650 free.
Freshman Artur Osvath completed Saturday’s races for the Bears with top-eight showings in three events. Osvath won the 200 breaststroke in a time of 1:59.98, placed fourth in the 100 breast in 56.43 and also led the team in the 100 butterfly (49.71) with an eighth-place finish.
Other notable two-event top-10 performances for the Bears included Kacper Cwiek, Uldis Tazans, Isaac Springer and Bryce Blattner.
Cwiek had two top-five efforts for MSU by earning fourth in the 200 free (1:40.99) and fifth in the 200 fly (1:52.37). Tazans led the group of four with the highest finish of third in the 100 breast behind a time of 56.34, but also placed ninth in the 200 breast with a time of 2:06.19. Springer took fifth in the 100 breast (56.68) and seventh in the 200 breast (2:05.05), while Blattner got ninth and 10th in the 200 backstroke and 100 back, respectively.
Among MSU’s highlights of the day included a top-five finish for Christopher Heye in the 200 breast, personal-best times for Brenden Bolman in the 200 free (1:42.58) and Theunissen in the 200 back (1:53.24), as well as a fourth-place finish – that was just .14 seconds behind Notre Dame – by the Bears’ ‘A’ 800 free relay squad of Cwiek, Michael Mollak, Will Brand and Bolman.
The Missouri State men’s swimming team now has a month off until the Mid-American Conference Championships which begin on March 2 in Ypsilanti, Michigan. The Bears’ women’s team competes next at the Missouri Valley Conference Championship beginning on Feb. 17.
