The No. 17 Notre Dame swimming and diving team will make their return to Rolf’s Aquatic Center to host Northwestern for a meet this Friday.
The Irish are coming off a dual meet against the University of Iowa and the University of Illinois in Iowa City last Saturday. The Irish women’s team notched two wins over the weekend, coming away with victories over both the Illini and the Hawkeyes by scores of 244.00 to 56.00 and 209.50 to 99.50, respectively. The men’s team did not fare as well, falling to Iowa in their lone matchup 159.50 to 140.50.
For the women, the weekend started off well with a win in the 200 Medley Relay. Junior back stroke/freestyle swimmer Carly Quast, junior freestyle and fly/back stroke swimmer Cailey Grunhard, junior freestyle and fly/intermediate stroke swimmer Rachel Wittmer and freshman fly/breast/intermediate stroke swimmer Coleen Gillilan recorded a time of 1:40.67 in the first race. Another team of sophomore back/intermediate stroke swimmer Bayley Stewart, senior fly/intermediate stroke and freestyle swimmer Erin Sheehan, freshman breast/fly/intermediate stroke swimmer Elizabeth Fry and senior freestyle swimmer Lauren Heller came in third place for the Irish with a time of 1:43.81.
The men’s team consisting of senior fly/back stroke and freestyle swimmer Jack Montesi, sophomore breaststroke and free style swimmer Matthew Limbacher, sophomore fly/back stroke swimmer Zach Smith and senior swiss army knife Aaron Schultz came in second place in the 200 Medley Relay in 1:30.21.
After that, Notre Dame proceeded to win seven consecutive events, including setting a University of Iowa Aquatic Center record with freshman freestyle swimmer Jack Hoagland taking the men’s 1000 Free in a time of 9:07.04.
For her efforts, Gillian earned ACC Swimmer of the Week honors. Including the 200 Medley Relay, she competed in four events and recorded a sweep of every heat. The Fort Collins, Colorado native won the 200 Fly, 100 Fly and 200 Intermediate. The 200 and 100 Fly saw her record personal bests for the season.
With the Iowa City meet in the rearview mirror, Notre Dame is now 5-3 for the women and 3-4 for the men in head-to-head meets this season.
The Irish will take on Northwestern at 5 p.m.
