Men's Swimming: Butterflies help carry Irish over Oakland
By: NOREEN GILLESPIE
Sports Writer
Oakland head coach Pete Hoveland is starting to think that his team should swim Notre Dame in its own pool.
After all, he's lost the last three meets he's had at Rolfs Aquatics Center. And after Notre Dame beat the Golden Grizzlies 162.5-133.5 Saturday in Irish waters, Hoveland thought a change of scenery might do his team some good.
"You love that home pool advantage," Hoveland said. "That cliche — that old adage — that it's tough to win on the road in the NCAA is true."
But the Irish are content in keeping the series where it is — in their home pool. After defeating Oakland for the second time this season, Irish head coach Tim Welsh seemed to think the Oakland squad could compete in his pool anytime.
"We definitely want them to keep coming here every year," said Welsh.
The match-up — Notre Dame's toughest dual meet competition of the season — was a battle for points from the beginning. Oakland captured the 200-yard medley relay, while Notre Dame teamed for a 2-3 finish in the first event of the meet.
In fact, Oakland swimmers captured first place finishes in three of the first five events of the meet. Oakland victories in the relay, the 200-yard freestyle and 100-yard breastroke had Notre Dame just a little nervous their depth couldn't overcome Oakland's headliners.
But mid-session, Notre Dame answered with swimmers sweeping the top three places in the 200-yard butterfly. Sophomore J.R. Teddy led the Irish butterfly squad finishing first in 1 minute, 54.97 seconds, followed by sophomore Lucas Wymore in second and sophomore Brian Coughlan in third.
"That was a critical turning point for us," Welsh said. "That wasn't something — looking at it before the meet — you'd have said was going to happen."
Butterfly continued to be a strong event for the Irish, when swimmers swept the top four places in the 100-yard butterfly later in the meet. Freshman Frank Krakowski won the event in 51.24, followed by senior David Horak, Coughlan and Wymore.
Depth proved to be the Irish's strong point, with several Irish swimmers teaming for top finishes or two-three sweeps. Capturing enough of the runner-up finishes when Oakland swimmers grabbed first helped put the Irish ahead on the point spread.
"We wanted to break up their power, which we did," Welsh said. "And when we were able to win an event, we could back it up."
Junior divers Andy Maggio and Tony Xie combined to sweep the 1-meter diving, and Maggio also grabbed first in the 1-meter event.
Teddy combined with senior Jonathan Pierce for a claim on the top two spots in the 500-yard freestyle. Horak, junior Jason Colettis and junior John Hudson combined for second, third and fourth places in the 200-yard backstroke.
Junior Jason Fitzpatrick and senior Mike Koss teamed for second and third place finishes in the 100-yard breastroke, and Horak and freshman Dean Wolf earned the top two positions in the 100-yard backstroke.
Pierce won the 1,650-yard freestyle, and Moisan won the 400-yard individual medley.
"We capitalized on all the places where they had holes," Pierce said. "This is definitely a big confidence booster."
The Irish, who improve to 9-3 on the season with the win against Oakland, return to the pool on Saturday against Villanova.
All Sports Stories for Monday, January 21, 2002
