Wildcats brought down by surprising Irish
By NOREEN GILLESPIE
Saint Mary's Editor
The Northwestern Wildcats crawled into Irish territory Friday evening ready to pounce on a win.
They left with their tails between their legs.
The No. 11 Northwestern team was confident it would leave the tri-meet against the No. 23 Irish and Rice University with a competitive but secure victory.
The Wildcats didn't expect to encounter an Irish team that would sweep all three teams and boost its record to 9-0.
Going into the meet, the Irish were ready to topple Northwestern's confidence.
"On paper, we matched up well," said women's head coach Bailey Weathers. "Some of their swimmers were two or three tenths ahead of what we'd done, but we were matched well. We knew we had a chance."
The Irish opened the meet with a quick start, capturing the 400 medley relay. The team of Kelly Hecking, Shannon Suddarth, Elizabeth Barger and Carrie Nixon sprinted ahead of Northwestern in 3 minutes, 48.27 seconds, grabbing the early lead.
Falling behind after the 1650 freestyle and 200 freestyle, Notre Dame bounced back with Hecking's backstroke win in 56.65 over Northwestern's Dominique Diezi.
Notre Dame and Northwestern traded leads for the next several events, swapping points throughout a 2-3-4 finish from Allison Lloyd, Shannon Suddarth and Kathleen Rimkus in the 100 breastroke, and a top finish from Alison Newell in the 200 butterfly. Nixon placed second in the 50 freestyle and first in the 100 freestyle. A 1-2 finish from Gina Ketelhohn and Rhiana Saunders in 1-meter diving secured Notre Dame with a 4-point lead entering the 200 breastroke.
With points flying back and forth between the teams, it was anyone's meet until the 200 breaststroke, when Northwestern's Adrian Talcott faltered with a fifth-place finish and two Northwestern swimmers were disqualified.
"That mistake gave us a chance to beat them," Weathers said. "We knew after the breastroke that we could have this meet."
The mistake allowed Notre Dame's Suddarth, Kathleen Rimkus, Lloyd, and Kerry White to respectively grab first, second, third and fourth place breastroke points, jolting the Irish to an 18-point lead.
Quickly shuffling his lineup to cement the victory, Weathers moved Nixon to the 100 butterfly and Newell to the 500 freestyle. Nixon grabbed second after a first-place finish from Barger in the 100 butterfly, and Newell grabbed third in the 500 freestyle.
A sweep of the diving from Ketelhohn, Karli Richards, Heather Mattingly and Saunders finalized the win, giving the team enough of a lead to carry them to the finish.
"We had this meet planned out to the last relay," Weathers said. "This is just another step along the way for us — it gives us the confidence that we can succeed in close meets."
The squad rounded out its weekend with a win over the visiting Illini Saturday night, capturing 14 of 16 events for a 183.5-116.5 victory.
Nixon led the team with wins in four events, capturing the 50 and 100 freestyles and leading the 200 and 400 medley relays. Hecking also picked up three wins for the Irish, and Lloyd, Barer, Newell and Ketelhohn were double event winners. Suddarth and Kristen Van Saun also walked away with event wins.
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, January 25, 2000
