ND WOMEN'S SWIMMING: Irish look to avenge bad pool, memories
NOREEN GILLESPIE
Sports Writer
Purdue University's pool has never been Notre Dame's favorite place to compete.
An old, decrepit facility, the swimming pool resembled more of a dungeon than an arena for athletic competition. Dark, dank and disgusting, it rarely produced fast swims for any visiting team forced to navigate through its nastiness.
And there's one more problem, too. It was the only site where Notre Dame lost a dual meet last season.
"I think they caught us off guard," said Irish head coach Bailey Weathers, remembering last year's 168-131 loss to the Boilermakers. "The key for us is not to underestimate them this year. I think when we've been tricked once — we have the tendency to be smarter the second time around."
But this evening's competition in West Layfayette, Ind. will likely be a different story. For one thing, Notre Dame will have the chance to compete in Purdue's new $17 million aquatic facility, the replacement for the 60-year-old pool that was closed at the university earlier this year.
And the Irish swimmers — who've had this date circled on their calendars since last year's loss — won't be underestimating anyone on the Purdue squad.
"They showed up a lot more prepared than we thought they would," said senior co-captain Tara Riggs. "They were as fired up last year as we are this year. We are more psyched for this meet than any others ... just because we are so upset they beat us last year."
On paper, the Irish match up well against Purdue, with a solid advantage in both sprint and distance events. The toughest match-ups will be in the breastroke and backstroke events, where senior backstroker Kelly Hecking will have her hands full with Purdue junior Lisa Dolansky, and senior breastroker Alison Lloyd will face difficult competition from Purdue junior Lindsay Lange.
Notre Dame will be Purdue's first dual meet in its home facility, and only its third competition of the year. The only competitions held so far at the new Haywood pool were an intersquad meet and an invitational meet last weekend, where the Purdue women won their inaugural competition.
But that definitely doesn't have Notre Dame scared.
"I think we'd swim them in the old pool right now," Weathers said. "We're approaching this as seriously as we possibly can."
And if just beating their rival wasn't enough motivation, the Notre Dame women have one more goal going into tonight's competition, too. They want to make their mark on the new pool.
"We have the chance to set pool records," Riggs said. "We want these records to be staring them in the face for a long time."
All Sports Stories for Thursday, November 1, 2001
