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Friday, March 29, 2024
The Observer

Senior day brings decisive win over Iowa

The Irish came to win on senior day, taking the gold in 16 out of 20 events at the Shamrock Invitational against Iowa this weekend and outscoring their opponent 263-106.

Junior Emma Reaney swims the freestyle segment of the 200-yard individual medley at the Shamrock Invitational against Iowa on Friday. Reaney broke a Rolfs Aquatic Center record in that swim.
Junior Emma Reaney swims the freestyle segment of the 200-yard individual medley at the Shamrock Invitational against Iowa on Friday. Reaney broke a Rolfs Aquatic Center record in that swim.
Irish junior Emma Reaney said the large margin of victory was a good testament to the senior class.

“We always like to protect our house,” Reaney said. “To be able to do it by so much and on our senior night was great.”

Reaney said the use of a new, faster swimsuit by the Irish gave them a leg up on their competition.

“We wore fast suits and the other teams didn’t,” Reaney said. “It was definitely an advantage. We wanted to get a feel for the suits before conference to get prepared.”

The biggest victory of the weekend came when the Irish broke the pool record in the 800-yard freestyle relay. The team of Reaney, senior Kelly Ryan, junior Bridget Casey and freshman Katie Miller finished with a time of 7:22.65, defeated the previous record set by Ohio State in 2011 by .20 seconds.

Reaney also broke a pool record in the 200-yard individual medley with a time of 1:58.42. Reaney won four individual events, with NCAA B cut times in each event, and participated in three relay gold finishes.

Ryan took first in three individual events, qualifying for the NCAA B cuts in the 100- and 200-yard backstroke with respective times of 54.42 and 1:57.57.

Miller also made a name for herself this weekend, taking first in the 400-yard individual medley and qualifying for the NCAA B cuts in the 200- and 400-yard individual medleys with times of 2:00.99 and 4:17.62, respectively. Miller also earned an NCAA B cut in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:58.55. Finally, Casey rounded out the 10 NCAA B Cuts for the Irish with her 1:59.30 finish in the 200-yard butterfly, good for a first-place finish.

The meet also took a few minutes to honor Ryan and her fellow seniors: Sarah Dotzel, Mikelle Masciantonio, Christen McDonough and Lauren Stauder.

Reaney said the senior’s reflections on their time with the Irish resonated with the team.

“Hearing them say what they loved most about Notre Dame was really emotional and heartfelt,” Reaney said. “We’re going to miss them so much.”

The Irish will close out their regular season with a home meet against Cleveland State on Saturday before preparing for the ACC Championships on Feb. 19.

 Contact Katie Heit at kheit@nd.edu