Fall season ends, Reaney wins silver medal

Notre Dame found success all over the country — the world, in fact — this weekend. The swimming team picked up 13 NCAA ‘B’ cut times at the Texas Invitational, the diving program earned six top-four finishes at the Hawkeye Invitational and senior Emma Reaney earned Notre Dame’s first ever FINA Short Course Championship medal in Doha, Qatar.

“We swam faster than we had all season [in Texas],” Irish interim coach Tim Welsh said. “In most cases than we swam faster than we had anytime in 2014, so it was a very good meet for us.”

Reaney, already the most decorated Notre Dame swimmer in the program's history, added a silver medal in international waters as part of Team USA’s 200-meter medley relay. The team set an American record in the event and qualified for the ‘A’ final in the 50-meter breaststroke, placing sixth in the world.

“Everything that Emma has done nationally and internationally just raises the profile of Notre Dame and certainly strengthens her chances and her opportunities looking ahead to further international meets,” Irish coach Tim Welsh said. “This is a giant step for her. No other [Notre Dame] swimmer has been to this meet so she’s the first Notre Dame swimmer to compete at this meet. … We are just so proud of all that she has done.”

Diver Allison Casareto swept the top spots in the Hawkeye Invitational behind a meet-record performance Friday in the 1-meter event. She proceeded to record a narrow victory over junior teammate Lindsey Streepey on the 3-meter board. Streepey also finished second in the 1-meter dive, while fellow junior Emma Gaboury placed fourth in the 1-meter and then third on the higher board.

“Allison had just a phenomenal diving meet,” Welsh said. “They went 1-2-3 [Saturday], and the whole diving team had just a terrific meet.”

In Austin, Texas, swimming closed its fall season with 13 times that are now up for NCAA consideration, Welsh said. NCAA ‘A’ cuts earn a swimmer automatic berths in to the NCAA national championship meet in the spring, while the remaining spots that are not filled with ‘A’ cuts go to the fastest ‘B’ cut times.

“This was a big step forward for us,” Welsh said. “But there’s a lot to go, and there’s a lot of preparation that we still have to do and there’s a higher level of achievement that we want to accomplish. This is a great end to the first semester.”

Junior Catherine Galletti earned ‘B’ cuts in the 100-yard butterfly and backstroke races while sophomore Catherine Mulquin joined her in the 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle and backstroke events. Senior Courtney Whyte was fast enough in the 100-yard butterfly and backstroke as well as the 200-yard butterfly, and freshman Katie Miller was the fourth Irish swimmer to earn multiple cut times, earning consideration in the 100- and 200-yard backstroke.

Freshman Sherri McIntee (200-yard breaststroke), junior Genevieve Bradford (200-yard breaststroke) and senior Bridget Casey (200-yard butterfly) also earned ‘B’ cut times.

“One of the things I joke about every year is we take our final exams in swimming first,” Welsh said. “This meet was like our final exam to see how the fall swimming season went.”

So did the team pass their swimming finals?

“We did! We had a great meet,” Welsh said. “We are very happy with how everyone did, very proud of how everyone did.”