Printer-Friendly Format     E-mail this article     Matt Obringer won the 200 freestyle and helped the 400 freestyle relay team post a victory against Northwestern on Saturday afternoon.

Irish show improvement and battle the Wildcats in every event.

Jan. 25, 2003

Complete Results

The University of Notre Dame men's swimming and diving team battled Northwestern in a dual meet on Saturday afternoon, eventually dropping a 172-126 decision to the Wildcats. Notre Dame did win six of the 16 events, led by a diving sweep from senior Andy Maggio.

Northwestern took a strong lead early, winning both the 400 medley relay and the 1000 freestyle. The Irish finally broke through for their first event win, as junior Matt Obringer took first place in the 200 freestyle (1:41.50). The Wildcats came right back to seize control of the meet by taking first and second place in the 100 backstroke.

Frank Krakowski and Drew Pittman touched first and second, respectively, in the 50 freestyle to score 13 points in the meet before the first diving break. Maggio then stepped out on the one-meter board and placed first with 296.40 points. Northwestern was focused, however, to win the 100 freestyle, 200 backstroke and 200 breaststroke to put the meet out of reach. Maggio would win the three-meter diving with 296.40 points, just .30 points ahead of NU's Mike Oxman. The 400 yard freestyle relay team of Tim Randolph, Frank Krakowski, J.R. Teddy and Matt Obringer closed out the meet for ND on a high note, touching first in 3:07.93.

Saturday afternoon's contest was the last home meet for the Class of 2003. Notre Dame will face Cleveland State, St. Bonaventure and Oakland on the road over the next three weeks before the BIG EAST Championship on Feb. 20 in Uniondale, NY.

The Irish senior class of Jason Fitzpatrick, Mike Flanagan, John Hudson, Matt Hyde, Travis Kline, Andy Maggio, Joe Miller and Tong Xie have posted a 28-14 (.667) dual meet record since 1999 and have faced over 100 different teams in dual meet, invitational and championship action. The group also excelled in the classroom during their careers at Notre Dame, as the seven seniors boast a 3.140 combined grade point average.