Notre Dame at Wisconsin
- Friday October 6, 2023
- Soderholm Family Aquatic Center, Madison, Wisconsin
- SCY (25 yards)
- Scores
- Women: Wisconsin 213, Notre Dame 87
- Men: Notre Dame 163, Wisconsin 137
On Friday, Notre Dame traveled to Madison for a midwest matchup with the Wisconsin Badgers. The two teams split the meet, with the #14 Notre Dame men taking the Wisconsin men in a close battle, while the #12 Wisconsin women won a lopsided battle against the Notre Dame women.
Both teams were unsuited for the competition.
Below, we break down some of the biggest highlights of this matchup where two ranked teams were competing (albeit, not against each other).
Wisconsin Women’s Freestyle Out In Full Force
The Wisconsin women won all but three events at this meet, but the Badger freestylers were especially standout.
In the 50 free, it was freshman Hailey Tierney who took the reigns. The fastest 50 freestyler in the freshman class and the #18 overallrecruit clocked a time of 22.62 and was the only woman in the field under 23 seconds. Tierney, who holds a personal best of 21.84, is now the sixth-fastest performer in the nation for the 50 free and the third-fastest performer in a practice suit.
Tierney also dropped a 22.45 50 free anchor leg on the 200 medley relay and a 49.77 100 free leading off the 400 free relay. Notably, her 100 free time was faster than the 49.94 sophomore Blair Stoneburg swam to win the individual 100 free.
While Tierney took care of business on the sprint side of things, it was her freshman teammate Maddie Waggoner who claimed victory in the longest event—the 1000 free. Waggoner, the #20 recruit in the high school class of 2023, clocked a time of 9:43.27, which is two seconds off her best time of 9:41.08. She beat 2022 NCAA Champion and junior Paige McKenna by just over a second in a race that was tight for the most part.
Junior and reigning 500 free Big Ten champ Abby Carlson posted arguably two of the most impressive performances on the women’s side, winning the 200 free (1:46.82) and 500 free (4:46.14) in NCAA ‘B’ cut-worthy times. She is now ranked ninth and fifth in the nation for the 200 and 500 respectively.
Expect all of these Badger women who shined at Friday’s dual to be top contenders at Big Tens and NCAAs later on in the season. Stoneburg, Carlson, McKenna, Waggoner, and Tierney all hold NCAA scoring-worthy personal bests already and are part of a Wisconsin program that is slowly becoming a freestyle powerhouse.
Notre Dame Transfers Make Their Debut For Fighting Irish
One big boost towards Notre Dame’s momentum this season was the two high-profile fifth-year transfers that they gained on the men’s side: Tanner Filion and Abdelraham Elaraby. Both swimmers made their NCAA debut for Notre Dame on Friday and produced noteworthy performances.
Though not a transfer, junior Chris Guliano is also a big source of Notre Dame’s momentum, as he is fresh off both a breakout sophomore NCAA season and a U.S. World Championships team qualification.
Elaraby, a transfer from Louisville and the defending ACC Champion in the 50 free, won both the 50 (19.74) and 100 free (44.18). He now ranks seventh in the nation for the 100 free. Elaraby raced head-to-head with his teammate and ACC rival Guiliano in both events, with Guiliano placing third in the 50 free (20.31) and second in the 100 free (44.36).
Guiliano did win the 200 free (1:37.50), beating Wisconsin freshman Luukas Vainio by a narrow margin of 0.34 seconds. Notably, Guiliano is the defending ACC Champion in the 200 free.
Meanwhile, Fillion still posted some solid results despite not winning anything. He finished fifth in the 100 free (1:40.12) and second in the 200 back (1:45.42), losing to his sophomore teammate Tommy Janton by just 0.28 seconds. In addition, he also produced the fastest split on the third leg of Notre Dame’s 400 free relay (43.76), where he, Guiliano (44.08 leadoff), Elaraby (44.21 second leg), and fifth-year Cason Willburn (44.16 anchor) combined for a time of 2:56.21 to take victory.
Fillion, who spent four years at DIII Whitman College, has one of the most intriguing storylines in NCAA swimming right now. After coming into college having never swam club before, he finished his career at Whitman as the first DIII swimmer to go sub-46 in the 100 back and the first to go both sub-1:43 and sub-1:42. Now, it will be interesting to see where his talents take him at a rising Power Five program.
Janton, Mark Torok, and Wilburn Rank Top Ten Nationally
Janton, Willburn and Wisconsin sophomore Dominik Mark Torok posted some of the most impressive performances on the men’s side, with all swimmers pushing into the top ten national rankings for individual events.
Mark Torok was the only triple winner of the entire meet, male or female, winning the 200 breast (1:58.00), 200 fly (1:45.14), and 200 IM (1:48.25). His 200 breast time was a 0.55-second drop from his previous best time set at a dual meet last February and ranks him ninth in the nation, while his 200 fly time makes him the seventh-fastest performer in the nation this season for the event.
While Mark Torok won the 200 fly, Wilburn won the 100 fly in a time of 47.27, which ranks him eighth in the nation. That 100 fly time is less than a second off his personal best of 46.28 from March 2022.
Meanwhile, Janton swept the backstrokes, taking both the 100 back (46.74) and 200 back (1:45.14). In the 100 back, he is ranked tenth in the NCAA.
Mark Torok and Janton both saw huge career surges in the last season, with Mark Torok pulling out a surprise 400 IM victory at Big Tens and Janton dropping nearly five seconds in his long course 200 back. Meanwhile, Wilburn has been one of Notre Dame’s most consistent swimmers, qualifying for NCAAs on relays for the last three seasons.
Battle Of The Bacons
This isn’t necessarily a swimming highlight, but it’s worth pointing out that two swimmers who share a very creative last name were both competing at this meet–Notre Dame sophomore Tate Bacon and Wisconsin senior Phoebe Bacon.
The two Bacon swimmers, who to our knowledge are not related to each other, both raced in two individual events. Phoebe won both the 100 back (53.50) and 200 IM (1:59.21), while Tate placed second in the 100 fly (47.95) and 200 fly (1:48.36).
Notably, Phoebe’s times were both NCAA ‘B’ cuts, while her 200 IM time ranks her fifth in the nation.
Other Event Winners
Women:
- 200 Medley Relay: Wisconsin (Bacon – 24.87, Okzan – 28.22, McConagha – 24.46, Tierney – 22.45) — 1:40.00
- 200 back: Madelyn Christman, Notre Dame — 1:58.74
- 100 breast: Hazal Ozkan, Wisconsin — 1:02.10
- 200 breast: Hazal Ozkan, Wisconsin – 2:15.56
- 100 fly: Mackenzie McConagha, Wisconsin — 54.26
- 200 fly: Mackenzie McConagha, Wisconsin — 2:00.20
- 400 Free Relay: Wisconsin (Tierney – 49.77, Wanezek – 50.24, Stoneburg – 50.23, Carlson – 49.80) — 3:20.04
- 1-meter diving: Calie Brady — 278.63
- 3-meter diving: Calie Brady — 293.22
Men:
- 500 free: Yigit Aslan, Wisconsin — 4:29.17
- 1000 free: Yigit Aslan, Wisconsin — 9:15.58
- 100 breast: Matthew Segal, Wisconsin — 54.66
- 200 medley relay: Notre Dame (Janton – 21.77, Faikish – 25.02, Wilburn – 20.68, Elaraby – 19.90)
- 1-meter diving: Daniel Muller, Wisconsin — 326.63
- 3-meter diving: Daniel Muller, Wisconsin — 355.95
Good luck to the Irish this season. Hope both men’s and women’s teams have great success.
It seemed like the badgers were missing a few guys. Newmark only swimming one event, Casey and Sharf not swimming. Maybe some illness?
The way the headline reads I thought a woman broke 20. Why would 19.7 be a headline for guys?
Wisconsin is slowly building themselves back into a program to be reckoned with. Suguiyama has done a very solid job with them.
Dude looks like Borat. There, I said it. Everybody’s thinking it.
Also about the same age
Go tanner ! Wishing you well from Blues nation.
Did Jake Newmark swim for Wisconsin?
3rd in the 200 free with a 1:38.0