Irish never look back after winning first six events against Wildcats
By: SHEILA EGTS
Sports Writer
The men's swimming and diving team dominated Villanova on Saturday, marking its first win in history against Villanova in a dual meet. The Irish set the tone for victory early in the meet with first place finishes in the first six events.
The opening event starred the relay team of Jason Fitzpatrick, David Horak, Frank Krakowski and Drew Pittman who took first place with a time of 1:35.63. In second was the team of Dean Wolf, Mike Koss, Adam Cahill and Austin Anderson for the Irish at 1:36.48
"The relays clearly got us started in the direction," said head coach Tim Welsh regarding the Irish's sweep of the relays. "We talked about those relays prior to the meet and wanted to focus on taking charge immediately."
Senior Jonathan Pierce clinched another first place for the Irish in the 1650-yard freestyle, posting a season-best time of 15:59.35.
Pierce is entering the Big East competition hoping to place comparably with his finishes in the past three years. He placed fourth last year in the 1650-yard freestyle and won the event his freshman and sophomore years, swimming a personal-best and school record time of 15:33.16 in 2000.
"Eric [Limkemann of Pittsburgh] will be at Big East, and he currently holds the best conference time," said Welsh. "Jonathan will be in the position of chasing him, but he is putting a lot of attention into going out with a fabulous Big East meet."
Freshman Matt Bertke was a big point scorer for the Irish, taking first place in both the 200- and 500-yard freestyle. Coming off an impressive final year of high school when he earned All-America honors and an individual state championship in the 200-yard freestyle, Bertke will face a different level of competition going into the Big East.
"Since I've never swam at the Big East, I am not sure what to expect. I am just going for times to meet my personal goals and I see what the competition is like when I get there," said Bertke.
Junior Michael Flanagan put up points for the Irish, swimming his way to victory in the 400 IM with a season-best, Big East qualifying time of 4:08.86.
Other first place finishes included junior Jason Colettis in the 100-yard backstroke, junior John Hudson in the 200 backstroke, senior Mike Koss in the 100-yard breaststroke, and sophomore J.R. Teddy in the 200 butterfly.
Junior Andy Maggio also won both diving events.
All Sports Stories for Monday, January 28, 2002
