Notre Dame hopes for upset win in Big East games
By TIM CASEY
Assistant Sports Editor
Don't count on Notre Dame winning its first Big East title this weekend.
Notre Dame enters the three-day meet at the Goodwill Games Swimming Center with a 7-2 dual meet record and a second place finish at the Notre Dame Invitational in early December. Six men's events will be contested today, including the 200-yard freestyle relay, one-meter diving, 500-yard freestyle, 200-yard individual medley, 50-year freestyle and the 400-yard medley relay.
Senior Dan Szilier is seeded first in the 200-yard breastroke and sixth in the 100 yard breastroke. He won the 200 Big East title as a sophomore in a school-record time of 2:00.09 and finished second last year. In Saturday's race, Szilier will be challenged by Pittsburgh freshman Randy Gertenbach, whose season-best time in the 200 is just .2 seconds slower than Szilier's. Notre Dame junior Mike Koss, who finished fifth in the 100-yard breastroke last year, is seeded third in the 100 and fifth in the 200
Whereas Szilier and Koss compete with their heads bobbing in and out of the water, junior Jonathan Pierece swims a more conventional stroke.
Pierce looks to defend his title in the 1,650-yard freestyle on Saturday.
The distance freestyle specialist swam a school-record 15:33.16 at the 2000 Big East Championships. He also set Notre Dame marks in the 500-yard free (4:30.96, good for second in the conference) and the 1000-yard free (9:20.99) during last year's meet. Pierce won the 1,650 title in 1999, as well, to become the first Irish swimmer to record an individual victory at the Big East championships.
Co-captain Ryan Verlin posted a second-place (and Notre Dame record) time of 1:48.39 in the 200-yard butterfly last year and enters Saturday's race ranked third in the conference.
The senior from Rye, New York is also seeded seventh in the 200-yard individual medley and fourth in the 400-yard individual medley.
Coach Tim Welsh's squad will also rely on freshman Matt Obringer (the sixth seed in the 500-yard freestyle and tenth in the 200-yard freestyle) and junior
David Horak (the fourth seed in the 100-yard butterfly, fourth in the 100-yard backstroke and fifth in the 200-yard backstroke) in its quest to dethrone Pittsburgh.
It will be an imposing challenge. Pittsburgh has the number one seed in 17 of the 18 swimming events and junior Michael Wells is one of the favorites in the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events.
Verlin (200-yard individual medley), Obringer (500-yard freestyle) and diver Herb Huesman (one-meter diving, an event in which he finished fourth last year), are the most likely Irish swimmers to record high finishes in today's races.
All Sports Stories for Thursday, February 15, 2001
