Irish in fourth after first day of Big East
By TIM CASEY
Assistant Sports Wrirer
UNIONDALE, N.Y.
They both grew up in Cincinnati, dove on the same club team and have known each other for seven years.
Last night, however, sophomore Andy Maggio and senior Herb Huesman, put aside their longtime friendship and competed in the one-meter diving final.
And what an event it was for the Ohio natives. Maggio finished second and Huesman ended up fourth and led the Irish to a fourth place overall showing after the first day of the Big East swimming and diving championships on Long Island.
Pittsburgh leads the field with 247 points, while St. John's (152 points) and Rutgers (134 points) are also ahead of Notre Dame's 117 points.
The competition continues today and ends on Saturday. The Irish have finished second for the last two seasons at this meet.
"We're always a little sluggish on the first day," junior Jonathan Pierce said. "It's tough getting accustomed to the pool. And we have 28 guys here and 15 are first-timers."
Pierce, a junior, had no trouble adjusting to the new settings. His clocking of 4:27.39 was good for third in the 500-yard freestyle and it also broke his own school-record by nearly three seconds.
Pierce's time also placed him in consideration for the NCAA meet, the first time an Irish swimmer has ever been under the consideration time in the 500 freestyle.
He led the race for 15 of the 20 laps but St. John's Michal Szapiel and Eric Limkemann caught Pierce in the final 150 yards. Notre Dame freshman Matt
Obringer placed eighth with a season's best time of 4:34.60.
"That was [Pierce's] plan tonight [to go out fast]," Notre Dame coach Tim
Welsh said. "The other racers in the heat have been ahead of him all year. So part of John's strategy is to say `be in the race.' It was a fabulous race."
Said Pierce: "You're always going to be disappointed when you get beat but I'm real happy with my time."
Maggio was also pleased with his performance. He received high scores on an inward two-and-a-half, his second-to-last dive, which catapulted him into second. In last year's meet, he finished sixth in the one-meter and fifth in the three-meter.
"He had the best meet he's had since he was 14 today," Huesman said. "It was awesome to see."
Huesman, who dove on the Cincinnati Stingrays club team with Maggio, was a little less ecstatic on a personal level. Last night, Huesman tied his placement at the 2000 championships and struggled on two dives.
"I didn't really dive great," Huesman said. "It definitely could have been alot better."
Part of Huesman's problem stems from a recurring shoulder injury. At the Indiana Invitational in early November, while preparing for the three-meterevent, Huesman dislocated his left shoulder.
He just returned to the pool three weeks ago and has competed in only two meets. And whereas he normally attempts 60-90 dives per day, Huesman only performed 15 dives per day before yesterday's event.
Huesman may have surgery on his left shoulder in the next few weeks. But he plans on competing in today's three-meter event. Last year, Huesman placed fourth in the three-meter competition.
"Andy [Maggio] and I definitely should be in the top 5 [in the three-meter event] if things go well," Huesman said.
Welsh also expects high placements from his swimmers today. In the 100-meter breastroke, junior Mike Koss is seeded third and senior Dan Szilier is sixth.
Unfortunately for the Irish, junior David Horak, the fourth seed in today's 100-yard butterfly and 100-yard backstroke, has mononucleosis and will notcompete this weekend.
The 400-yard individual medley will be contested today, as well. Senior co-captain Ryan Verlin, who finished fourth a year ago in the 400, and Pierceare among the favorites. Pierce, a two-time Big East champion in the 1650-yard freestyle, will defend that title on Saturday.
"We always get better from session to session," Pierce said. "We'll do a lot better tomorrow and even better on Saturday."
All Sports Stories for Friday, February 16, 2001
