The men's swimming and diving team recorded its seventh winning season in nine years as the Irish (8-7) thumped Cleveland State and Oakland, 145-96 and 183-103, respectively, in a pair of separate dual meets at the Rolfs Aquatic Center this weekend."[Irish coach] Tim [Welsh] had us prepared pretty well going into this weekend," freshman Ted Brown said. "We came in focused knowing that if we won the last two dual meets of the season, we could end up with a winning record. The Irish had no trouble taking care of the Vikings (9-3) for the ninth consecutive year and 17th time in their last 18 meetings, notching the top three spots in four of the meet's first eight events and ultimately winning eight of 13 overall events.Sophomore Jamie Lutkus (200-yard individual medley, 200-yard breaststroke) led the charge for the Irish, posting a pair of first place finishes for the second straight meet. Brown (1,000-yard freestyle) and Scott Coyle (3-meter board), sophomore Chris Barnes (100-yard freestyle), junior Frank Krakowski (50-yard freestyle), senior Matt Obringer (200-yard freestyle) and the 400-yard medley relay team (Krakowski, freshman Tim Kegelman, sophomores Doug Bauman and Tim Randolph) all contributed with event victories.Less than 24 hours after defeating Cleveland State, the Irish were back in the water and were busy tearing apart Oakland (5-4). Claiming 12 of the meet's 16 events and sweeping the top three spots in four of the first five individual races, the Irish quickly turned the typically hotly-contested Oakland meet into a laugher.Coyle (1- and 3-meter board), Brown (200-yard freestyle), Kegelman (100-yard butterfly), Bauman (100-yard backstroke), freshmen Brian Freeman (200-yard backstroke) and Justin Barber (400-yard individual medley), sophomores Patrick Davis (1,000-yard freestyle) and Patrick Heffernan (200-yard butterfly) and senior J.R. Teddy (500-yard freestyle) all recorded individual event victories in the route.The No. 21 women's squad wrapped up another successful regular season with a 176-117 dual meet triumph over Oakland in the Rolfs Aquatic Center Saturday."I think as a whole, everyone swam really well," freshman Abby Strang said. "We were just trying to work on swimming our races correctly [going into Big East]."Beginning with a victory in the 200-yard medley relay, the Irish (8-2) never looked back, ultimately winning 12 events on the afternoon.Freshmen Katie Carroll (200-yard freestyle), Ellen Johnson (100-yard backstroke) and Strang (1,650-yard freestyle), sophomore Countney Choura (100-yard breaststroke), junior Kelli Barton (200-yard breaststroke, 500-yard freestyle) and seniors Lisa Garcia (200-yard butterfly), Meghan Perry Eaton (1-and 3-meter board) and Marie Labosky (200-yard backstroke, 400-yard individual medley) all turned in individual victories.
Both squads return to action Feb. 19 at the Big East Championships in New York. The men will send 25 competitors to the annual meet while the women will send 26.
