This weekend Notre Dame is splitting its team as the Irish send a group of athletes to the Ohio State Winter Invitational, while the members of the team who qualified for the ACC championships will head to Atlanta.
Those who did not qualify for the ACC championships will head to Columbus, Ohio, for a two-day meet comprised of approximately 15 teams.
Irish head coach Mike Litzinger said the meet provides the team with an opportunity to end the season on a strong note.
“It is a great opportunity for our non-conference team members to finish out their year,” Litzinger said.
“The expectation is for them to go and put up lifetime best times, perform well and do a good job competing. It’s a non-scoring meet in the championship format, so you swim a preliminary and then the top 24 swimmers get to compete again in the evening in the finals. It is a great opportunity for our kids to finish off the year.”
The women who qualified for the ACC women’s championships will leave for Atlanta on Friday for all-day meets that begin Monday and finish Thursday. There will be 17 swimmers and two divers making the trip to Georgia, and each can compete in up to seven events during the weeklong meet. Traditionally, each competitor has done three individual events and four relay events.
Litzinger said he is confident in his team's ability to perform.
“I feel really good about the women’s championships — we had a great year, and now it is time to step up and put what we practiced all year long into the championship format,” Litzinger said.
“This is our vehicle to qualify for the NCAA championships and that’s the goal: ... to see how many kids we can get to the NCAA championships.”
Part of his confidence lies in the team's performance in last Saturday's Downstate Dual in Muncie, Indiana. The Irish cruised past Ball State, with the men posting 148.5 points to the Cardinals' 82.5, and the women scoring 129 points to Ball State's 108.
The men who qualified for the ACC meet will be competing Feb. 27 through March 2 in Atlanta.
“It is that time of the year where we put all of our great training and competition experience to work. This is it,” Litzinger said. “We are ready to head to the NCAAs in March.”
