Notre Dame
The Notre Dame women's and men's swimming and diving teams kicked off their 2016-17 season with impressive victories over both the Spartans of Michigan State (women: 169-54, men: 159-62) and the Hawkeyes of Iowa (women: 154-69, men: 151-72), as the Irish won 20 of the 24 events on the afternoon. The meet was unique in that it was swum outdoors and in a 50-meter Olympic pool, providing a fun environment to commence the season.
"Today was a great day for our teams," said Head Coach Mike Litzinger. "We swam a non traditional format, outside, in the rain with Michigan State and Iowa and we had a lot of fun. Despite the conditions both teams swam exceptionally well and laid down the foundation for a great season. Our divers won both 3 meter contests, and got off to a great start as well. We want to continue our momentum through tough training and preparing for next week."
Notre Dame opened the swimming portion of the meet winning both the women's and men's 400 meter medley relays. The quartet of Alice Treuth,Meaghan O'Donnell, Sofia Revilak and Lauren Heller touched the pad first in the women's event with a 4:22.38 performance, while the foursome of Robby Whitacre, Trent Jackson, Matt Grauslys and Tabahn Afrik won the men's event in 3:54.84.
The Irish continued their winning streak over the next five events, which included wins in the 800 meter freestyle by Molly Treble and Richard Mannix. The freshmen duo of Abbie Dolan and Aaron Schultz earned their first individual wins of their Notre Dame careers as both touched the pad first in the 200 meter freestyle. Katie Miller extended the consecutive event win streak to seven with her win in the 200 meter individual medley. In the men's 200 meter individual medley, Kevin Bradley was the first Notre Dame swimmer to the wall, finishing in second place overall.
Following Nikki Smith's second place performance in the 200 meter butterfly, the Irish went on a ten event win streak, highlighted by three event sweeps by the Irish women in the 200 meter backstroke, 400 meter freestyle and 200 meter breaststroke. During the ten event win streak, both Dolan (100 meter freestyle) and Mannix (400 meter freestyle) collected their second individual wins of the day. Other individual winners over the ten event stretch included Grauslys (200 meter butterfly), Afrik (100 meter freestyle), Treuth (200 meter backstroke), Whitacre (200 meter backstroke), Reilly Lanigan (400 meter freestyle), Danielle Margheret (200 meter breaststroke) and Jackson (200 meter breaststroke).
The Irish bookended the meet with another pair of relays wins in the women's and men's 400 meter freestyle relays. For the women, Dolan, Catherine Mulquin, Heller and Erin Sheehan combined for a 3:59.85 showing. On the men's side, Daniel Speers, Justin Plaschka and Reed Fujan joined Afrik for the final Notre Dame win of the day.
In diving action, which occurred earlier in the afternoon, the duo of Claire Andrews and Joe Coumos swept the 3-meter springboard event for Notre Dame. The same pair also led the Irish off the 1-meter board with third-place finishes.
The Notre Dame women's and men's swimming and diving teams will return to action on October 7 when they host the annual Dennis Stark Relays at the Rolfs Aquatic Center. The meet, which was named in honor of the first head coach of both teams, begins at 5:00 pm.
Iowa
The University of Iowa men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams opened the 2016-17 season with a double-dual split.
The Hawkeye men posted Big Ten dual victory over Michigan State, 130-87, and fell to Notre Dame, 151-72, while the Hawkeye women downed the Spartans, 147-76, and fell to the Irish, 154-69.
With events being held outdoors at MSU’s Charles McCaffery Pool, the Hawkeyes battled through tough weather conditions throughout the night, swimming in low temperatures and rain. All diving events took place indoors.
“We had some great racing and diving last night (exhibition) and today,” said UI head coach Marc Long. “The environment was fun, exciting, and competitive. We’re excited for the season.”
The competition started off strong, with both the men and women notching second and third place finishes in the 400-medley relay. Junior Meghan Lavelle, senior Emma Sougstad, junior Tereysa Lehnertz, and freshman Hannah Burvill swam to a time of 4:24.63.
For the men, it was sophomore Kenneth Mende, freshman Weston Credit, junior Jerzy Twarowski, and sophomore Jack Smith clocking in at 3:59.14.
In the 800-meter freestyle, sophomore Abbey Schneider recorded the top time for the women, posting a second-place time of 9:24.16. Senior Serena Wanasek touched in fifth in 9:35.92. Leading the way for the men was junior Chris Dawson, clocking in at 8:54.04 to finish fourth.
Sougstad and Mende, both NCAA qualifiers a year ago, led Iowa in the 200-meter IM. Sougstad took second place with a time 2:26.15, while Mende was fourth, clocking in at 2:15.10.
Junior Tereysa Lehnertz notched Iowa’s lone first place finish of the night, clocking in at 2:19.54 in the 200-meter butterfly.
Several Hawkeye freshmen made their collegiate debuts on Friday.
Burvill added to her impressive night, swimming to a third-place finish in the 200-meter freestyle in a time of 2:08.97. Forrest White swam to second and third place finishes in the 200 free (1:58.45) and 200 back (2:11.76). Michael Tenney led Iowa with a second place finish in the 400 free (4:13.32), while Isaak Webb posted Iowa’s top time in the 200 breast (2:31.53).
Both the Hawkeye women and men ended the night on a high note with strong finishes in the 400-meter freestyle relay. Freshman Amelia Armstrong-Grant, sophomore Kelly McNamara, Lehnertz, and Wanasek swam to a second-place finish (4:05.46) for the women.
Smith, sophomore Matt Kamin, freshmen Joe Myhre and Steve Fiolic notched a third-place finish (3:38.25) for the men.
In the diving well, sophomore Jacintha Thomas (272.85) and senior Brandis Heffner (302.95) notched wins off the 1-meter. Heffner also placed second off the 3-meter with a score of 297.40. Freshman Olivia Dopkiss made her collegiate debut, diving to a second-place finish off the 3-meter with a score of 291.25. Thomas followed in third place at 283.35.
