Notre Dame finished strong after the three-day Greensboro Invitational in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Irish men concluded the weekend second out of seven teams, while the women placed fourth of eight competing squads.
Irish head coach Mike Litzinger reflected on the noteworthy weekend.
“It was really great for us to establish who we are, and that we are one of the top teams in the ACC this year,” Litzinger said. “Frankly, everybody swam fast and that’s the whole point; the scheduling we had up until this point led to some really great performances this weekend and it all worked out pretty well.”
On Day One, the women had a notable performance in the 200-freestyle relay with freshman Katie Smith, senior Catherine Mulquin, freshman Abbie Dolan and sophomore Sofia Revilak who together broke the oldest school relay record.
Litzinger applauded the women for their record-breaking performances.
“The women set two school records and we are really thrilled with their progress as well,” Litzinger said. They did a fantastic job.”
On the second day of competition, Dolan continued her solid meet by winning the 200-freestyle with a time of 1:46.31. The men also saw success in the 200-freestyle with senior Reed Fujan claiming second overall after clocking in at 1:36.28.
Success extended for Notre Dame in Day Three of the competition. The women broke yet another school record with the grouping of Dolan, Mulquin, Smith and Revilak snagging a time of 3:18.78 in the 400-freestyle relay. The men’s squad excelled in the same event with sophomores Tabahn and Afrik Daniel Speers, Fujan and junior clocking in at 2:54.24 — a second-place finish for one of the best times in the country this season.
“Our sprints were super strong,” Litzinger said. “Speers and Justin Plaschka continued to make their presence known and Reed Fujan really did a great job. Those four guys combined put up one of the fastest 400-freestyle relays in the country. As a matter of fact we were beating N.C. State — the defending national champions in that event — for about 350 of the 400 yards. We were really pleased with our guys’ swims.”
Litzinger also singled out some other swimmers he felt performed well in the meet.
“Sophomore Matt Grauslys won the 200-butterfly and going away, he has one of the top times in the country in that event. Both [Junior] Rob Whitacre in the 200-backstroke and [senior] Trent Jackson in the 200-breast put up some outstanding swims that are really going to hold up as some of the top swims in the country.”
Litzinger showed confidence in the team moving forward and explained that they have proved their place among other top squads.
“This weekend gives us a quick taste of where we are in the ACC and we feel pretty good about that — we are going to be in pretty good shape,” Litzinger said. “We have proven our worth and that we can compete with highly ranked teams — teams like N.C. State who are defending national champions in certain events and we are right there with them.”
The Irish kick off next semester by taking on Iowa and Illinois at home in Rolfs Aquatic Center on Jan. 12 and 13.
