NOTRE DAME, Ind. – In its last road dual meet of the season, the University of Notre Dame women’s swimming and diving squad is heading back to Big Ten country for a double dual against the No. 24 Wisconsin Badgers and the No. 14 Indiana Hoosiers at Wisconsin’s Natatorium this Friday and Saturday.
Action gets underway at 6 p.m. ET Friday and continues at 11 a.m. ET Saturday.
Notre Dame (4-7) is coming off a pair of setbacks to then No. 8 Michigan (182-118) and Northwestern (154-146) last weekend in Ann Arbor. The Irish won five of the 16 events on the day, including three victories from senior All-American Emma Reaney, and a win each from junior swimmer Catherine Galletti and senior diver Allison Casareto.
“We have so much to get done with the time we have left that we haven’t spent a lot of time worrying about other people,” said interim head coach Tim Welsh. “We are trying to take care of our group and focus on what our group needs. We could see some of the results of the training in last weekend’s meet. I thought the meet was a very positive experience.”
Wisconsin (2-5) has competed against a formidable schedule this year that featured road duals at Arizona State, Arizona, Minnesota, California, Stanford and USC in addition to a home meet against Northwestern and invitationals at Ohio State and Texas.
Indiana (3-3) lost a close dual to Auburn to start the year, swept Tennessee and Kentucky on the road and finished fourth at the AT&T USA Swimming Winter Nationals to highlight a busy fall semester for the Hoosiers.
With the ACC Championships just over a month away, the Irish have an eye towards championship season, which is fast approaching, and will use this weekend’s meet as a measuring stick.
“What we are trying to do at this point is to get everything right,” said Welsh. “We have a two-session competition this weekend, which prepares us for championship meets where you compete at night and then get right back up the next morning and compete again.
“We are looking for improvement, same as always. In a perfect world, we want this week to be faster this week than last week.”
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The trip to Michigan for the meet against the Wolverines and Wildcats put the finishing touches on a successful couple of weeks for the Irish. In what has become an annual tradition, the Irish swimmers and divers split up and headed south for about 10 days of sun, warm weather, beaches and most importantly, training.
Notre Dame’s five women’s divers headed to San Juan, Puerto Rico, while 21 women’s swimmers ventured to Miami, Florida.
For the swimmers, a regimented routine included a wake-up call at 6:30 a.m., breakfast soon after, practice at Miami Country Day School at 8 a.m., weights or yoga before lunch, some beach time in the early afternoon, an afternoon practice, dinner and bed for much of the trip.
The Irish also had a free day, which included a team outing involving jet skis, and also had a morning practice the day of Notre Dame football’s game against LSU so they could watch the bowl together.
“The main show was the training, but the side show was spectacular,” said Welsh. “The weather was warm and sunny and the ocean was right out the back door.
“I thought training went well. We were able to do some weight training and yoga as some support, but the focus was what was taking place in the pool. To a person, the team trained hard and trained with focus and intensity. I thought it was a really positive trip.”
In San Juan, Puerto Rico, the Irish divers had a successful trip that included plenty of time on the boards in addition to beach workouts right in front of their hotel.
On their off day, a group took a trip to the El Yunque rainforest where they hiked and went swimming in a natural waterfall pool along a river.
“In my four years diving at Notre Dame, this year’s training trip was by far the best,” said Casareto. “I had traveled to the Puerto Rico facility for training trip during my freshman year, and since then they have updated the boards, which was a huge benefit. No one on the team got injured, something I consider a major success, and it was overall a very productive trip.”
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Schedule of Events
Friday
200 Medley Relay
1000 Free
200 Free
100 Back
100 Breast
200 Fly
50 Free
200 IM
800 Freestyle Relay
Saturday
200 Free Relay
400 IM
100 Free
200 Back
200 Breast
500 Free
100 Fly
400 Medley Relay
NCAA Rankings (Top 50 Only)
100 Breast
3. Emma Reaney (59.04 – converted)
200 Breast
4. Emma Reaney (2:08.27 – converted)
200 Fly
T-48. Courtney Whyte (1:58.46)
100 Back
50. Catherine Mulquin (53.59)
ACC Rankings (Top 3 Only)
100 Breast
1. Emma Reaney (59.04 – converted)
200 Breast
2. Emma Reaney (2:08.27 – converted)