Notre Dame finished its fall season this past weekend at the Boilermaker Invitational in West Lafayette, Indiana.
The invitational featured the Irish and seven teams from around the country, including ACC foe Louisville and the host Purdue. Other teams at the invitational included Cincinnati, Wyoming, Florida International, San Diego, Southern Illinois, Missouri State and Air Force.
On the women’s side, Notre Dame finished in second place overall on the weekend.
The Irish finished Friday’s competition in second place following a strong performance from junior Catherine Mulquin, who swam for her first B-cut of the season on Friday morning. Mulquin swam the 50-yard freestyle in 22.90 to make the cut.
Other top individual finishers for the Irish included junior Katie Miller, who finished third in the 200-yard individual medley (2:02.13) and senior Catherine Galletti, who also placed third in the 50-yard freestyle (23.03).
Other top Irish finishers Friday included the A-lineup for the 200-yard freestyle relay of Mulquin, Galletti and freshmen Sofia Revilak and Ella Moynihan. The 200 free relay A-team finished in first place with a time of 1:32.00. On the diving boards, senior Lindsey Streepey came in third overall in the 3-meter dive and freshman Dierdre Worth finished sixth.
Saturday played out much the same way for Notre Dame, as the Irish maintained their second-place position paced by the A-lineup 200-yard freestyle relay team of Mulquin, Galletti, Revilak and Moynihan. They clinched first place in the event with their time of 1:39.50.
Top individual finishers for the Irish on Saturday included Mulquin winning the 100-yard backstroke, Revilak finishing second in the 100-yard butterfly and freshman Nicole Smith placing third in the 400-yard IM and fourth in the 100-yard butterfly.
On Sunday, Notre Dame kept up its momentum from the first two days of competition, wrapping up its hold on the second-place spot it had occupied for all 41 events of the weekend. The Irish were led by Mulquin, who finished third in the 100-yard freestyle and freshman Alice Trueth, who took first in the 200-yard backstroke.
Purdue won the invitational with 1,002 points, with Notre Dame following in second with 707 points and Wyoming rounding out the top three, finishing with 500 points.
On the men’s side, the Irish were paced by sophomore Justin Plaschka’s B-cut in the 50-yard freestyle in Friday’s action. Plaschka, junior Kevin Bradley and freshmen Tabahn Afrik and Daniel Speers finished second in the 200-yard freestyle relay as well.
Plaschka continued his strong performance Saturday by tying for the win in the 100-yard butterfly.
The Irish had their best day at the invitational Sunday, as Afrik won the 100-yard freestyle and fellow freshman Matthew Grauslys touched the wall first in the 200-yard butterfly. Both swimmers finished in NCAA B-cut times.
Afrik collected a second victory Sunday as he, Plaschka, Bradley and Speers again teamed up to win the 400-yard freestyle relay to help the Irish to a third-place finish overall at the invitational.
The Irish will return to action in January, kicking off their spring season with a trip to Charlottesville, Virginia, for a dual meet against Virginia.
