Notre Dame's run to a second consecutive Big East title came on the heels of one of the most dramatic finishes in the program's history.
In a meet that came down to the final race, the third-seeded 400-yard freestyle relay team entered the race as a seven second underdog to top-seeded Louisville. However, the Irish squad of junior John Lytle, senior Danny Lutkus, sophomore Joshua Nosal and junior Andrew Hoffman were undeterred by the challenge, as Lytle took the lead in the first leg and the Irish never looked back. The win gave the Irish a 9.5-point lead and the Big East title.
"I hardly know what to say ... congratulations to every team that swam in the championships," Irish coach Tim Welsh said. "What is so important about our guys is how much more unified the team became this week. The championship came down to one race, and that time was five seconds faster than last year's time with the same guys. I am so proud of our guys, our team and our program."
Although Notre Dame took a lead into the final day of competition, the Irish suspected that their third title in four years would come down to the wire.
"We told the guys before the meet that it might come down to the last race, and if we were victorious, we would win," Welsh said. "Our guys knew all along it might come to this and they were prepared for it. All I knew is that the guys were going to give it everything they had and we knew we would race well. The seniors and the upperclassmen will remember this forever."
The relay team set one of four Irish records on Saturday. Lytle broke the Notre Dame record in the 100-yard freestyle with a time of 43.48 seconds in the preliminaries and went on to best his own time with a 43.46 second performance that earned him second place. Sophomore Michael Sullivan set a school record during his second place finish in the finals of the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:45.10.
In the 200-yard butterfly, junior MacKenzie LeBlanc posted a season-best time of 1:46.53 in the preliminaries, which was an NCAA B-cut time. He later broke the Notre Dame record in the finals during his fourth place finish with a time of 1:45.06. The time was also the fastest ever by a Notre Dame swimmer in the event at the Big East Championships.
Three new Irish records highlighted Friday's action. Sullivan set a school record with his third place finish in the 400-yard individual medley with a time of 3:51.13, which was good for an NCAA B-cut as well. Lytle set a school record in the preliminaries of the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:37.04. He bested that mark with his first place finish in the finals with a time of 1:35.79. The 400-yard medley relay team of sophomore Joseph Raycroft, senior Mitchell Sherman, LeBlanc and Lytle finished fifth in a time of 3:16.74 to best the old Notre Dame record.
Senior Michael Bulfin led the Irish divers on Friday in the 3-meter event. His second place finish was good enough for All-Big East honors. Sophomore Eric Lex also earned all-conference honors with his third place finish in the event.
