Notre Dame swept a tri-meet against Cleveland State and Miami (Ohio) Saturday at Cleveland State's Busbey Natatorium. The Irish beat the Vikings 132-109 and raced past the Redhawks 143-100.
In total, the Irish won five of 13 events on the day. Irish junior John Lyttle was one of two Irish swimmers to win a pair of races. Lyttle took the 50-yard freestyle by just over one tenth of a second, out-touching Cleveland State's Stephen Grove with a time of 20.83 compared to Grove's 20.94. Lyttle also took first in the 100-freestyle with a time of 45.60.
Irish sophomore Michael Sullivan continued his strong season, earning two first-place finishes just days after being named the Big East swimming and diving athlete of the week. Sullivan dominated the 200-individual medley with a time of 1:55.11, which was nearly two seconds ahead of the next closest finisher. He was equally as dominant in the 200-backstroke, taking first place honors with a time of 1:51.60.
Sullivan also swam backstroke on Notre Dame's second-place 400-medley relay, which consisted of Sullivan, Lyttle, senior Daniel Rave, and sophomore Patrick Augustyn.
Irish junior Andrew Hoffman claimed Notre Dame's fifth first-place finish with his performance in the 200 freestyle. Hoffman's time of 1:41.89 was about a second and a half faster than that of second-place finisher Chris Gunnels from Miami.
The Irish put forth a strong effort on the diving board, and finished with three of the top five scorers in both the 1-meter and 3-meter diving events. Senior Michael Bulfin finished in second in the 1-meter and fifth in the 3-meter event.
Sophomores Eric Lex, Wesley Villafor and Nathan Geary combined for the rest of Notre Dame's top five finishes. Lex took third in both the 1-meter and 3-meter events while Villafor took fifth in the 1-meter event and Geary took fourth in the 3-meter event.
With the wins, the Irish improved to 3-2 on the season. The Irish are now 22-2 against Cleveland State under coach Tim Welsh.
The Irish return to action when they head to Columbus for the Ohio State Invitational on Dec. 5.
