Irish Gunning For Third Straight BIG EAST Title This Week In New York
Feb. 13, 2007
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The Notre Dame men's swimming and diving team will look to capture its third straight conference title this week at the BIG EAST Swimming and Diving Championships in the Nassau County Aquatic Center in East Meadow, N.Y. The Fighting Irish have won the past two BIG EAST meets in dominating fashion and will look to do the same once competition begins on Wednesday, Feb. 14. The meet concludes on Saturday, Feb. 17.
West Virginia enters the four-day competition as the highest-ranked squad in the 11-team field. The Mountaineers are ranked 17th in the latest College Swim Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) dual-meet rankings. The Fighting Irish, who posted an 11-3 dual-meet record this season, are ranked 19th. West Virginia topped Notre Dame 228-142 two weeks ago in the Shamrock Dual-Meet Invitational, which was hosted by the Irish. Pittsburgh is the only other BIG EAST squad receiving votes in the poll. Notre Dame defeated Pittsburgh earlier this season by a score of 172-126 in the Rolfs Aquatic Center.
Notre Dame will have nine student-athletes competing that have earned all-BIG EAST accolades. Junior Jay Vanden Berg (Holland, Mich./Southfield Christian School) is the two-time defending BIG EAST champion in the 1,650-yard freestyle. He also captured the 500 free at last year's meet.
In addition, the Fighting Irish boast the defending champion in the 800-yard freestyle relay. Current seniors Brian Freeman (Sanger, Calif./Immanuel), Ted Brown (Kokomo, Ind./Western) and Louis Cavadini (South Bend, Ind./Riley) along with junior Rob Seery (Garden City, N.Y./Garden City) took the title last season in a school record-time of 6:35.47.
Senior co-captain Tim Kegelman (Yorktown, Va./Tabb) is a nine-time all-BIG EAST performer. He captured titles in the 100 fly, 200 fly and the 200 IM during the 2005 meet. Brown has accumulated six all-conference honors, while Vanden Berg has five.
Cavadini is a three-time all-BIG EAST member as a key part of the Irish's freestyle relay units. Senior Chris Zeches (Tucson, Ariz./Salpointe Catholic) earned all-conference accolades in 2005 with a second-place finish in the 1,650 free.
The Irish divers had a solid showing at last year's conference meet. Current junior Sam Stoner (Valparaiso, Ind./Valparaiso) placed third off the three-meter board, while his teammate Michael Bulfin (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla./St. Thomas Aquinas), a sophomore, was third in the one-meter competition. Their all-conference performances helped diving coach Caiming Xie earn BIG EAST Men's Diving Coach of the Year honors.
Notre Dame's freshman class has been an integral part of the team's success this season. Rookie John Lytle (Clearfield, Pa./Clearfield Area) owns the team's top time on the 100 free (45.46), while his classmate Andrew Deters (Claremont, Calif./Clarmont) has the top time in the 1,650 free (15:39.88). Fellow freshman MacKenzie LeBlanc (Plano, Texas/Plano East) has posted the top mark in the 200 fly (1:48.36).
Another newcomer that has had a successful season for the Irish is sophomore transfer Jeff Wood (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport/Indiana). Wood has the Irish's second-fastest times in the 500 free, 100 back and 200 back.
Notre Dame's strength at the BIG EAST Championships will once again be in the distance freestyle events. The Irish boast four of the top-five seeds in the 500 free. Brown is the No. 2 seed, followed by Wood, Vanden Berg and Freeman. Deters is the top seed in the 1,650 free, while Seery is the third seed and Vanden Berg is the fifth seed.
The 200 free has six Notre Dame swimmers among the top-eight seeds. Brown is the second seed, while Lytle is the third seed and sophomore Danny Lutkus (Granger, Ind./Penn) is the fourth seed. Occupying seeds six through eight are Seery, freshman Andrew Hoffman (Ft. Wayne, Ind./Homestead) and Freeman, respectively.
Other top-five seeds for the Irish are Alan Carter (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) in the 100 back (3rd seed), Vanden Berg in the 400 IM (4th), Wood in the 100 back (4th), LeBlanc in the 200 fly (4th), Kegelman in the 100 fly (5th) and freshman Ross Moore (Champaign, Ill./Champaign Central) in the 200 fly (5th).
The meet gets underway on Wednesday with the men's one-meter diving competition along with the 800-yard freestyle relay and the 200-yard medley relay for both the men and women. Preliminary events for the final three days of the event get underway at 10:00 a.m. each day, while finals begin at 6:00 p.m.
For more information on the 2007 BIG EAST Swimming & Diving Championships, including results from each day's action, log onto bigeast.org.
Stay up-to-date on the Notre Dame men's swimming and diving team by logging on to und.com or by calling the official Notre Dame athletics hotline at (574) 631-3000.
Here is the complete list of Fighting Irish competitors and the events they are entered in for the 2007 BIG EAST Swimming and Diving Championships.
NAME (seed) Justin Barber |
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