Swimmers rally in Big East finale
By NOREEN GILLESPIE
Sports Writer
When the Notre Dame men's swimming and diving team class of 2000 began their careers as freshmen, the possibility of a two-time second place finish at the Big East Swimming and Diving championships was nothing more than a dream.
But through a talented and dedicated core of men, the dream began to become a reality — one that was realized this February at the Big East championships.
"The senior class has been our catalyst here as they have been all year," head coach Tim Welsh said. "We were here as a team finishing in second place largely through their vision, dream, and commitment to swimming hard and training hard."
Senior Ray Fitzpatrick was arguably the standout of the group, capturing a Big East title in the 200 freestyle and breaking his own University record. Fitzpatrick also fueled the 200-medley relay of Brian Skorney, Michael Koss, Brendan Lechner and himself to a second place finish. The senior was also a member of the 800 freestyle relay including Jonathan Pierce, Austin Anderson and Matthew Grunewald.
Senior diver Herb Huesman also made a strong mark on the program, returning after a year-long hiatus due to surgery. Huesman, who returned to the program after the removal of a tumor from his lung, rallied to notch a fourth-place finish in the three-meter competition after a top-eight finish in the one-meter competition.
The team pulled out a second place finish in the final days of competition after chasing Rutgers on the first day of competition and holding a narrow lead for the rest of the meet.
"We have a lot of pride and we worked hard," said team co-captain Sean Casey. "We were pleased with our performance and stepped up when we needed to. When it got down to it, there was no way we were going to let anyone pass us on the last day."
Senior Tony Fonseca agreed.
"We trained too hard to let teams come back and beat us," he said. "Swimming at Notre Dame for four years has been the best experience of my life and this win only added to that."
Colleen McCarthy contributed to this article.
All Sports Stories for Friday, May 19, 2000
