Notre Dame swimmers take fourth at Big East Champs
By TIM CASEY
Assistant Sports Editor
UNIONDALE, N.Y.
Five minutes after Saturday night's final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay, Notre Dame coach Tim Welsh grinned and held up the four fingers on his right hand.
It was not an unusual scene, for Welsh always exudes an externally optimistic view of his team's performance. But the gesture symbolized the Irish's fourth-place finish, a standing that excited Welsh because just moments before, the final verdict was still unsettled. When the official results were tallied, they showed Notre Dame with 385.50 points and Rutgers with 385 points.
For the fifth straight year, Pittsburgh dominated the Big East Championships. The Panthers scored 647 points, a total that put them comfortably ahead of St. John's (428 points) and Virginia Tech's 417 points. And the Irish, who were second the previous two years, matched their placement at the 1998 conference championships.
"We did what we were capable of doing," Welsh said. "Do we wish we were capable of doing more? Sure we do. But when we do the best job we can do, the scoreboard will take care of itself."
The 2001 conference meet for the Irish was highlighted by a few solid individual performances but their lack of depth was also evident. Four swimmers (senior Ryan Verlin, junior Jonathan Pierce, sophomore Jason Fitzpatrick and freshman Matt Obringer) posted at least two individual top-eight finishes. Yet only one other swimmer, senior Dan Szilier, could manage to rank among the top eight in an individual event. Szilier, the runner-up in last season's 200-yard breastroke, finished fifth in that same event this year.
"The guys who led us all season long led us here as well," Welsh said.
At a school where each student must pass a mandatory swim test as a freshman, Pierce staked the claim this weekend as Notre Dame's most accomplished male swimmer. After recording a third-place finish in the 500-yard freestyle on Thursday, Pierce placed fourth in Friday's 400-yard individual medley and third in the 1,650-yard freestyle on Saturday. Pierce became the second Notre Dame swimmer to go under four minutes in the 400 individual medley.
Pierce did not meet his pre-meet goal of swimming under 15:30 in the 1,650 freestyle, an event that Pierce won the last two years, but his time of 15:43.73 for the 66 laps did not cause much concern on Saturday.
"Overall, it was a good weekend," Pierce said. "Sure, it's kind of a disappointment that I didn't place as high as I wanted to (in the 1,650). But I was real happy with my time in the 400 IM. I consider it my third-best event.
"This is definitely the culmination of the season for us. Of course we're working towards the national championships but this is a meet we can all share. And I think the team performed very well."
As was the case on Thursday, the divers once again provided the Irish with some crucial points. Sophomore Andy Maggio placed second in the three-meter final on Friday night, while senior Herb Huesman finished fifth. Maggio missed out on second by just 0.8 points.
One night earlier, Maggio was second and Huesman was fourth in the one-meter competition.
"My overall consistency has improved from last year," Maggio said. "The goal is to be able to be certain you're going to hit your dives. I didn't really do anything spectacular (on Saturday) but I didn't miss anything either."
Said Welsh: "I've been here for 16 years and there's probably one other diver, who has dove for 4 years, who would compare with Herbie and Andy."
Welsh believes he has another rising star in Fitzpatrick. The Arizona native attended the Notre Dame summer swimming camp as a junior in high school and fell in love with the school. He made an impact last year and placed seventh in the 100-yard breastroke at the Big East Championships. This weekend, Fitzpatrick showed improvement and finished sixth in the 100 breastroke and third in the 200-yard breastroke. His time in the 200 (2:02.54) was nearly three seconds faster than last year's best clocking.
"I'm real happy with my performance," Fitzpatrick said. "Hopefully I can continue to improve."
The Irish will lose nine seniors to graduation in May, including Verlin (who placed sixth in both the 200-yard butterfly and 400-yard individual medley) and Szilier. But a talented group of younger swimmers, particularly Obringer, the eight-place finisher in the 200 and 500-yard freestyle, cause Welsh to once again flash his trademark smile.
"If you asked me last week what we're capable of doing, this is what we were capable of doing," Welsh said. "Did we ever in the entire season hope for more? Of course we did. We'll just want to do more the next time."
All Sports Stories for Monday, February 19, 2001
