The Irish will travel to Columbus for the Ohio State Invitational this weekend to compete in the biggest meet of their season thus far.
"This meet gives us the opportunity to see where we are this far in the season," Irish coach Brian Barnes said. "This is the first meet this year that will be in championship format. There has been a lot of preparation and hopefully it will lead to high performances."
In this three-day meet, the Irish will face four Big Ten rivals including the hosting Buckeyes, Michigan State, Purdue and Penn State. Purdue defeated the Irish 168-131 in South Bend earlier this season.
"This will be a great meet," Barnes said. "We are competing against some great competition. In this three-day meet everyone will be looking to swim well. I expect nothing but big performances and a fantastic finish to the weekend."
Barnes will look for team improvement and growth, rather than focusing on the standings in Notre Dame's final meet of the calendar year.
"There will be six sessions in this national format invitational," Barnes said. "We need everyone to swim well and give it their all. The beauty of a three-day meet is you can assess your growth and progress daily."
The Irish (3-3) are coming off a tough 188-112 loss to Big East conference opponent Louisville. The Irish hope to grow from this setback and educate themselves in this three-day competition, Barnes said.
"This meet will not only be a physical meet, but it will help our team grow as a whole," Barnes said. "We will learn from the championship format, find our mistakes and learn from them after each day. Each member on the team will play a big role in their own learning process."
The Irish will not only look for strong performances in the water, but they will also try to polish up the mistakes.
"We hope to race and execute the details we have been working on in practice," Barnes said. "We have plenty of opportunities to race and perform with the championship format. We will have to swim fast, recover quickly and educate ourselves in the process."
The Ohio State Invitational begins today and continues all day Saturday and Sunday in Columbus, Ohio.
Contact Andrew Cardoza at acardoza@nd.edu
