Notre Dame Swimming and Diving Honors Tim Welsh at Shamrock Invite; Gillilan Swims 52.1 100 Fly

Photo Courtesy: University of Notre Dame

The No 16/12 Notre Dame Swimming and Diving Team posted seven pool record times, including one school record time, and both squads placed first after the initial day of competition in the Shamrock Invitational Friday.

Notre Dame began the Friday evening session with the dedication of the Coach Tim Welsh Team Room.

Welsh served as the head coach of Notre Dame Swimming and Diving for 30 seasons. Under his guidance, the Fighting Irish captured the program’s first BIG EAST title in 2005, and repeated the feat five more times during his career. Welsh received the National Collegiate and Scholastic Swimming Trophy, the College Swimming Coaches Association of America’s highest honor, and this fall, received the 2019 Notre Dame Monogram Club’s Jesse Harper Award, which recognizes a member for his commitment and involvement with the athletic department and the university as a whole.

Welsh is currently battling pancreatic cancer.

To kick off this evening's session, we celebrated the dedication of the Coach Tim Welsh Team Room, a space that will be used to, in Tim’s words, “pursue – and achieve – athletic excellence, with self-discipline and love for one another.”#GoIrish pic.twitter.com/CsD8bsX3yB

— ND Swimming & Diving (@NDSwimDive) January 24, 2020

Notre Dame Swimming and Diving Press Release

“These kids are competitive,” Head Coach Mike Litzinger attributed. “And, I think when they’re executing their races correctly in this environment, those school records and those pool records are in jeopardy.”

“I just think it shows that we’re starting to dial it in and starting to swim fast all the time,” he added. “It’s been fun to watch these kids grow a little bit.”

DAY 1 SCORES

Men:

No. 16 Notre Dame: 869
No. 18 Iowa: 586
No. 14 Ohio State: 553
Missouri State: 309

Women:

No. 12 Notre Dame: 754.5
No. 7 Ohio State: 651
Akron: 488
RV Iowa: 442.5

SESSION I

In the morning, the Irish got off to a quick start, winning the women’s 200 Free Relay. The team of Coleen Gillilan, Abbie Dolan, Carly Quast and Rachel Wittmer posted a 1:30.56. From there, senior Dolan took home first in the women’s 500 Free with a B-Cut 4:46.60, followed by Madeline LaPorte, who turned in a 4:50.21.

On the men’s side, freshman Jack Hoagland notched the first pool record of the day for Notre Dame, touching the wall in 4:17.12 in the 500 Free, also a B-Cut time. Junior Zach Yeadon followed closely behind with a 4:21.13, also an NCAA B Cut. Senior Sadler McKeen rounded out the top three with a 4:21.38 (B Cut).

Gillilan marked the second of Notre Dame’s pool records, also her second pool record in two weeks, this one in the 200 IM (1:56.84 – B Cut). Marci Barta continued the strong performance, winning the 200 IM with a 1:47.97.

To finish off Session I, Notre Dame swept the 400 Medley Relay, with the women’s team of Quast, Gillilan, Cailey Grunhard and Dolan marking down the third pool record of the day for the Irish, turning in a 3:34.94. The men’s team of Jack Montesi, Josh Bottelberghe, Zach Smith and Aaron Schultz touched the wall in 3:12.57, good for first place.

SESSION II

To kick off Session II of the Shamrock Invitational, the Irish swept the 200 Medley Relay, with the women’s team of Quast, Gillilan, Grunhard and Wittmer posting a time of 1:38.73. The men followed suit, as Montesi, Matt Limbacher, Smith and Schultz touched the wall in 1:27.68.

From there, Notre Dame posted record times in three consecutive events. Luciana Thomas showed out first for the Irish, posting a 4:11.89 (B Cut) in the women’s 400 IM, a pool record.

Hoagland followed it up with another pool record, his second of the day, in the men’s 400 IM (3:46.38, B Cut). Gillilan rounded out the trio, setting not only a pool record, but a school record, in the women’s 100 Fly (52.13).

In the men’s 400 IM, Barta came in second, with a B-Cut time of 3:48.63, and in the women’s 100 Fly, Grunhard placed third, posting a B-Cut 53.59. Dolan touched the wall second in the women’s 200 Free with a B-Cut time of 1:46.15.

McKeen marked Notre Dame’s seventh pool record of the evening, touching the wall in 1:34.86 (B Cut) to place first in the men’s 200 Free. Gillilan followed it up, winning the women’s 100 Breast with a B-Cut 1:00.02, while Bottelberghe won the men’s 100 Breast, also with a B-Cut time (54.14).

Quast touched the wall first in the women’s 100 Back, posting a B-Cut time of 52.92, while Montesi posted another win, this one in the men’s 100 Back, touching the wall for a first-place time of 47.91.

The Irish men finished out competition with a win in the 800 Free Relay, as the team of Yeadon, McKeen, Schultz and Wilburn posted a 6:26.22.

On the diving end, senior Erin Isola won the women’s 3-meter competition with a score of 301.95, besting her closest competition by more than 15 points.

With two sessions Friday and the final to follow on Saturday, Litzinger emphasized that the style of the Shamrock Invitational is set to model that of a championship meet.

“One of the reasons that we do this format is because it’s very challenging physically and mentally, so they have to take each session as a separate meet — to try to get the rest, hydrate, fuel properly and reset,” the Notre Dame coach shared. “But, when you go from tonight to tomorrow, it really does simulate a finals situation, and back to your prelims situation. That’s kind of the message that I sent, and I think all the rest of the teams that are here are probably practicing that very same thing.”

Ohio State Press Release

The Nos. 14/7-ranked Ohio State men’s and women’s swimming and diving team is competing in the four-team, two-day Shamrock Invitational, hosted by the University of Notre Dame. The women are solidly in second place after the first two sessions with 651 points and trailing only Notre Dame and its 754.5 points. Iowa and Akron are also taking part in the invite.

The Ohio State men are in third after the first 13 events of the meet with 553 points. Notre Dame (869 points) and Iowa (586) are ahead of the Buckeyes with Missouri State in fourth.

Amanda Palutsis holds the highest finish by for the Buckeye women after Day 1, winning the 50 freestyle. Kathrin Demler has a pair of second-place finishes in the 200 and 400 individual medley events. Mackenzie Crawford was second on the 3-meter springboard. Joseph Canova led a one-two-three sweep for the men’s divers with a first-place score of 354 points. Three men’s swimmers: Paul DeLakis in the 200 individual medley, Jason Mathews in the 100 breaststroke and Colin McDermott in the 100 backstroke, have the top swimming individual finishes, respectively.

Evening Session

The 200 medley relay “A” team of Rebekah Bradley, Hanna Gresser, Becca Luft and Freya Rayner took third – and 32 points – with a time of 1:40.25 with the “C” relay team contributing 24 points with a seventh-place finish. Kathrin Demler then led a trio of Buckeyes in the 400 individual medley final with her second, second-place finish of the day in a time of 4:11.94. Three races later Sarah Sperber led a huge point-producer for the Buckeyes, the 100 breaststroke, by taking third in 1:01.69 with Leah Baker, Hannah Bach, Laura Banks and Hanna Gresser taking the next four places, respectively, for a total of 81 points. Divers Mackenzie Crawford, Jacqueline Brenn and Lexie Barker all placed in the top six and totaled 45 points for the Buckeyes. The 800-free relay team of Lucija Jurkovic-Perisa, Sally Tafuto, Kathrin Demler and Kristen Romano was fourth in 7:22.33.

Morning Session

The women opened day one of competition with a third-place showing in the 200 freestyle relay. Taylor Petrak, Freya Rayner, Rebekah Bradley and Amy Fulmer touched at 1:31.88, earning 32 points for the Buckeyes. Grace Kowal and Kathrin Demler posted a combined 33 points for the women as Kowal finished third in the 500 freestyle and Demler picked up a second-place finish in the 200 IM. Sophomore Amanda Palutsis swam to victory in the 50 free with a time of 23.01 while teammates Fulmer and Rayner tied for fourth. The trio tallied a combined 49 points from the event. In the 400 medley relay, the Ohio State “B” team finished fifth while the “D” team touched seventh to earn points for the women.

Evening Session

The men opened the evening session in fine fashion with the 200 medley relay “A” team taking second in 1:27.77 with RJ Kondalski, Hudson McDaniel, Joe Pohlmann and Semuede Andreis swimming the legs. The “B” relay of Colin McDermott, Jason Mathews, Chachi Gustafson and Andrew Loy was third for a big 66-point scoring event. Jason Mathews had the top individual finish among the swimmers with a second-place showing in the 100 breaststroke with a time of :54.63. Ohio State came on strong in the next event, the 100 backstroke, with Colin McDermott taking second in 48.02 and Evan Stapp third in :48.50 with the team earning a total of 54 points with five total point scorers. Joseph Canova led a one-two-three sweep for the divers with a first-place score of 354 points with Jacob Fielding second and Lyle Yost third for a total of 53 team points.

Morning Session

The 200 freestyle relay team of Sem Andreis, Andrew Loy, Paul DeLakis and Joe Pohlmann started the men off with a second-place finish at 1:20.88, earning 34 points for the Buckeyes. DeLakis and Loy both earned points in the 200 IM as DeLakis touched second at 1:48.15, good for 17 points and Loy posted a time of 1:48.85 for an additional 15 points. Andreis completed the Buckeye’s perfect outing in the 50 free as he posted a first-place finish with a time of 20.13. Colin McDermott, Colin Roy and Pohlmann all finished in the top 16 to earn points. Last up, the Ohio State “A” and “B” 400 medley relay teams finished fourth and fifth, respectively to earn a combined 58 points to finish off the first session of the day.

Missouri State Press Release

Pawel Krawczyk’s pair of top-five placements in the 200 and 500 freestyle highlighted the Missouri State men’s swimming and diving team’s day one Shamrock Invitational efforts Friday at Rolfs Aquatic Center. The MSU men totaled 309 points through two sessions.

Krawczyk’s fourth-place time in the 500 free (4:23.06) was the highest individual finish for the Bears. In the evening session, he collected fifth in the 200 free (1:37.78), edging past Iowa’s Andrew Fierke.

Arthur Cury rounded out MSU’s A-heat finishers, turning in a seventh-best time in the 200 IM (1:49.61) and joining Krawczyk in the 200 free (1:38.72) with an eighth-place finish.

Antonio Thomas (4:27.36) and Tyler Lewis (3:56.49) represented MSU in the B heats, clocking in the top time and finishing ninth overall in the 500 free and 400 IM, respectively.

The Bears saw three – Samuel Senn, Jacob Schultz, and Michael Hampel – rank among the top-10 in several events. Senn concluded the first session’s individual races with a tenth-place time in the 50 free (20.85). Schultz (49.41) and Hampel (56.06) produced top MSU swims in the 100 fly and 100 breast, both claiming tenth.

MSU fell just shy of the top-10 pack on the 1-meter boards, with Michael Claunch placing eleventh (257.85) and John David Spence (248.60) taking twelfth.

Iowa Press Release

Freshman Sergey Kuznetsov captured Iowa’s first victory in the 100 fly with a time of 48.06.

Senior Hannah Burvill secured another victory for Iowa in the 200 free, notching first with a time of 1:45.99. Fellow senior Allyssa Fluit and freshman Macy Rink took third and sixth with times of 1:46.59 and 1:50.06.

Freshmen Julia Koluch (54.63) and Kennedy Gilberston (54.88) finished second and third in the 100 back, with Koluch’s time breaking into the top-10 in program history.

Freshman Millie Sansome recorded a personal best in the 400 IM with a time of 4:17.53, retaining her third overall spot in program history. Anze Fers Erzen took a bronze finish with a time of 3:51.71.

Nearly for the third meet in a row, the men’s 50 free almost featured a full sweep from sophomore Aleksey Tarasenko (20.16), and seniors Steve Fiolic (20.39), and Will Scott (20.48). The trio took second, third, and fourth.

Junior Daniel Swanepoel (55.12), freshman Will Myhre (55.62), and senior Weston Credit (55.64) finished in the top-10 of the 100 breast, with Swanepoel at fourth, tailed by Myhre in seventh and Credit in eighth.

Freshman Macy Rink wowed in the 500 free, posting a 4:52.53 and finishing fourth for Iowa with a new personal best.

Sophomores Mateusz Arndt (1:37.15), Andrew Fierke (1:37.87), Tarasenko (1:37.91), and freshman Evan Holt (1:38.74) all finish in the top-10 in the men’s 200 free. Arndt took third, followed by Fierke and Tarasenko at sixth and seventh, with Holt in ninth.

Burvill, Rink, Sansome, and Fluit took the 800-free relay title with a time of 7:12.79. This time is good for fifth place in program history. Arndt, Tarasenko, Tenney, and Fierke placed second in the men’s 800-free relay with a time of 6:28.51. This time is good for eighth in program history.

The men’s 200-free relay team of Fiolic, Tarasenko, Scott, and senior Joe Myhre nabbed a win in a blistering 1:20.10. Iowa’s second fastest time of the season. Just three spots back, the team of Kuznetsov, Will Myhre, and seniors John Colin and Sam Dumford posted a 1:22.44.

The 200-free relay team of Burvill, junior Sarah Schemmel, Fluit, and Rink started off the women’s relays with a fourth-place finish, posting a time of 1:32.60.

The Hawkeyes showed out in the 400-medley relay with Sansome, freshman Zoe Mekus, junior Kelsey Drake, and Burvill finishing in 3:42.86 for third overall. The team of Gilbertson, freshman Aleksandra Olesiak, Schemmel, and Rink placed right behind in fourth at 3:43.99.

Wrapping up the morning session, the team of Colin, Swanepoel, Kuznetsov, and Tarasenko placed third in the men’s 400-medley relay with a time of 3:16.29.

The 200-medley relay team of Colin, Will Myhre, Kuznetsov, and Joe Myhre placed fourth in a quick 1:29.03.

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