Notre Dame showed significant improvement but still lost its dual meets to Northwestern and No. 16 Wisconsin this weekend at Norris Pool in Evanston, Ill.
The Irish fell 208-162 to Northwestern and 218-151 to Wisconsin, dropping to 1-5 in dual meets this season. It was Notre Dame's first meeting with the Badgers and eighth meeting with the Wildcats, who have a 5-3 advantage in the all-time series.
"We got in a big hole yesterday and the girls worked really hard to bring it home tonight," coach Carrie Nixon said. "Our girls swam some really great races tonight, despite having a slow start to the whole meet. Wisconsin is a really tough team so we were up against tough competition."
Highlighting the weekend for the Irish was freshman Sam Maxwell, who took the title in the 200-yard breaststroke and 100-yard breaststroke. Maxwell's 2:15.65 time in the 200-yard breaststroke and 1:03.31 time in the 100-yard breaststroke were both season bests for Maxwell and the Irish.
Freshman Amywren Miller finished third in the 100-yard breaststroke in 1:05.46, Notre Dame's second-best time on the season.
In the 1,650-yard freestyle, sophomore Lexie Shue and freshman Lauren Sylvester finished in the No. 2 and 3 slots, respectively. It was the first time Notre Dame participated in the 1,650-yard freestyle this season. Shue finished with a time of 16:47.67, and Sylvester ended in 16:51.76.
Freshman Lauren Parisi finished third in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 2:01.15. This was also a season best for both Parisi and the Irish.
Junior Christa Riggins reached a personal season-best, taking second in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 51.15. Riggins also finished second in the 200-yard freestyle with a 1:50.62 time.
The diving half of the team put up impressive numbers. Sophomore Natalie Stitt took second in the one-meter diving competition with a score of 275.55, falling just short of Northwestern leader Leanne Dumais, who scored a 278.80. Notre Dame freshman Heidi Grossman and senior Laura Rings also finished in the top five, placing third and fifth, respectively.
The Irish hope to get a little rest this week after a long stretch of tough competition.
"We've had a lot of meets in a row here so having next week off will be great," Nixon said. "The girls are a little beat down and each meet we've had this fall has been really tough so week after week they're swimming as hard as they can."
