This past weekend, the Irish fell in a tough road meet to No. 14 Wisconsin, 257-96, in Madison, Wisconsin.
Notre Dame was missing several key players due to the flu and were out-swum by the Badgers in every event. The loss moved the Irish to 2-5 on the season.
The Irish diving trio of sophomore Joe Coumos (390.95), senior Ted Wagner (330.70) and sophomore James Lichtenstein (290.20) started things off with third-, seventh- and ninth-place finishes in the 3-meter competition, respectively. The night before, they finished in a similar order during the 1-meter competition, in which Coumos finished third, Lichtenstein finished sixth and Wagner eighth.
Notre Dame received a top-three finish from senior James McEldrew when he finished third in the 200-yard backstroke (1:51.61). Junior Bogac Ayhan finished sixth (1:52.33), freshman Rob Whitacre (1:53.20) came in eighth and senior Matthew DeBlasio claimed 10th (2:00.35) in that same event.
The 200-yard freestyle relay A-team composed of freshman Justin Plaschka, senior Zach Stephens, sophomore Kevin Bradley and sophomore Reed Fujan missed the podium by a second and had to settle for fourth (1:24.61). On the other hand, the B-team of junior Michael Hudspith, senior Kevin Hughes, sophomore Trent Jackson and Whitacre nabbed seventh (1:27.37).
Stephens finished third in the 200-yard breaststroke (2:02.84) and was followed by senior Cameron Miller and junior Andrew Jensen, who finished seventh (2:06.38) and ninth (2:09.05), respectively.
In the 400-yard individual medley, Bradley touched the wall first for the Irish when he finished seventh (4:07.00). Senior John Nappi (4:09.18) finished eighth and was followed by DeBlasio’s ninth-place finish (4:12.62).
In the 100-yard freestyle, Plaschka and Fujan finished one-tenth of a second apart (46.76 to 46.86) for seventh and eighth place, while Kevin Hughes nabbed 10th (47.00) and Hudspith clinched 12th (47.51).
Even without senior standout John Williamson, the Irish swam well in the 100-yard butterfly. Plaschka led the pack with a fourth-place finish (50.13). Ahayan (50.62) and senior Patrick Olson (51.20) finished sixth and seventh and were followed by senior Broderick Kelley, who rounded out the top 10 (51.78).
In the 400-yard medley relay, the last event of the day, Notre Dame’s A-lineup of Ayhan, Miller, Plaschka and Stephens finished third (3:20.73) while the B-team took eighth (3:28.26).
The Irish will be in action once again at Rolfs Aquatic Center for the Shamrock Invitational on Jan. 30-31.
