Dec. 4, 1997
Notre Dame Men Lead the Notre Dame Invitational after Day One; Women are Close Second
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The Notre Dame men's swimming and
diving team is in first place after the first day of
competition at the Notre Dame Invitational, while the Irish
women are a close second.
Notre Dame leads the men's competition with 317 points,
followed by Syracuse with 211. The Michigan women's team lead
the Notre Dame women's squad by 53 points (304 to 251).
Notre Dame's depth on the men's side allowed them to stockpile
points in many key events. In the 500-yard freestyle the men
scored a total of 85 points, capturing second through
fifth-place finishes. The Irish also captured second through
fifth place in the 200 yard Individual Medley and third through
sixth place in the 50 yard freestyle.
The Notre Dame men's relay team captured first place in the 200
yard Freestyle Relay with a time of 1:24.56. In diving,
sophomore Herb Huesman came away with first placee with a score
of 490.80 off the one-meter.
On the women's side, Notre Dame senior Linda Gallo set the new
pool and meet record in the 500 yard freestyle with a time of
4:52.61 besting the time set by Michigan's Linda Riker
(4:53.98) only two heats earlier. Notre Dame gained
considerable ground on Michigan in the diving part of the
competition when sophomores Gina Kettelhohn and Rhiana Saunders
took first and third, respectively, off the three-meter.
Numerous records fell on the first day of the Notre Dame
Invitational. Syracuse alone toppled three meet records and
two pool records. Syracuse junior Dan Karlsson recorded a
1:51.44 in the 200-yard individual medley, and in the 50-yard
freestyle, Syracuse junior Jose Gonzalez beat out his previous
record of 20.67 set in the morning's preliminaries with a time
of 20.63. In the the last event of the evening Syracuse's
400-yard medley relay team beat the two year-old meet record
set by Pittsburgh by swimming to a time of 3:23.66.
Michigan's women's team won four events, setting pool and meet
records in each of their victories. Their 200 yard freestyle
relay team bested Kansas' 1994 record of 1:36.63 with a time of
1:33.69. Two events later Wolverine freshman Kasey Harris swam
a 2:02.63 in the 200-yard individual medley to break Kristen
Nilsen's meet record of 2:04.30. In the 50-yard freestyle
Jennifer Crisman recorded a 23.34 to qualify for the NCAA B
meet breakingpool and meet records in the process. Also
qualifying for the NCAA B meet was Michigan's 400 yard Medley
Relay team, which swam a 3:47.90 and shattered the previous
meet record of 3:52.38 set by Kansas in 1995.
The Notre Dame Invitational continues tomorrow with the
preliminaries taking place at 10:00 a.m. at the Rolfs Aquatic
Center, and the finals starting at 6:30 p.m.
