March 23, 2006

ATLANTA, Georgia - Notre Dame freshman Michael Bulfin (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas) placed 27th in the preliminaries of the one-meter diving competition during the first day of the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center on Thursday afternoon.

Bulfin, who is just the third student-athlete in program history to compete in the NCAA meet, registered 270.45 points for his six dives during prelims. Arizona State's Joona Puhakka finished first out of the 34-diver field with 389.30 points. The top eight divers advance to tonight's finals, while the top 16 overall score points.

The Fighting Irish freshman will have another crack at it tomorrow as he competes off the three-meter board. Bulfin qualified for the NCAA meet with his performance in the three-meter competition at the NCAA Zone C Diving Championships on March 10th.

Friday's prelims of the three-meter competition begin at 1:30 p.m. (ET) and the finals are at 7:00 p.m.

Stay up-to-date on the Notre Dame men's swimming and diving team by logging onto und.com or by calling the Notre Dame athletics hotline at (574) 631-3000.

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