Mens Swimming: Irish emerge first among tough field at ND Invitational
By LISA REIJULA
Sports Writer
The Irish men's swimming and diving team won the largest Notre Dame Invitational in school history, dominating the rest of field in the three-day event.
Notre Dame never trailed in the meet and finished atop the standings each day.
Winning with a final score of 1,840.50 points, the Irish were followed by Wyoming (1,227) in second and West Virginia (1,123.5) in third.
"It was an effort by the team as a whole," freshman Tyler Grenda said. "We did even better than we thought we were going to do."
Division III standout Denison (1,111.50) was next in fourth, followed by North Dakota (874.50), Wisconsin-Green Bay (726), Indianapolis (605), and Louisville (508). St. Louis (411), Shippensburg (168), and Hillsdale (40) completed the field of participants.
The Irish faced tough competition, including Wyoming's Jerram Chudleigh, who set two pool and meet records on the final day. Chudleigh broke the 200 backstroke record with a NCAA B qualifying time of 1:46.95. Later that day, he set a pool and meet record in the 200 butterfly (1:47.84).
Notre Dame's Jason Fitzpatrick set a school record (55.71) in the 100 breaststroke on the second day, and later also led the 200 medley relay team to victory.
Freshman Doug Bauman won the next event for the Irish, winning the 100 backstroke with a time of 51.40. The 200 freestyle relay team also placed first, as Adam Cahill, Frank Krakowski, Tim Randolph, and Jason Fitzpatrick edged North Dakota.
In the 200 individual medley, Indianapolis' Orel Oral set a pool and meet record (1:50.14) and was closely followed by three Irish swimmers. Jamie Lutkus was second (1:53.65), David Moisan third and junior Josh Dermott placed fourth.
In diving action, Notre Dame's Tong Xie and Joe Miller were second and third, respectively, behind Louisville's Sean Wilkinson (539.40) in the three-meter board event.
In the one-meter competition, Wilkinson again took first place with 286.40 points and Xie was second for the Irish (256.85). St. Louis's Bobby Wolf was third with 245.65 points.
Wyoming's Scott Usher won the 200 breaststroke with an NCAA B qualifying time of 2:01.04, finishing just ahead of Notre Dame's Fitzpatrick. Usher set a meet record in the 100 breaststroke on the second day of competition, while Fitzpatrick set a new Irish record. Indianapolis' Oral finished third, followed by Moisan and Tyler Grenda. Oral also set a meet and pool record in the 50 freestyle.
Notre Dame's victory was made certain after the Irish demolished the competition in the 400 relay. The team of Krakowski, Matt Obringer, Fitzpatrick, and Randolph took first in 3:03.40, beating second-place North Dakota handily.
Grenda also said the win showed the Irish's progress this season.
"We know that if we keep working to get where we want to go, we can do it," he said.
"We've become so united as a team."
All Sports Stories for Monday, December 9, 2002
