Irish host Tim Welsh Classic

By PETER BREEN sports Writer

notre dame swim and dive welcomed ohio state, a kron and i ndiana state to rolfs aquatic center this weekend for the program’s final home meet of the 2022-23 season, the Tim Welsh c lassic. both the i rish men and women placed second in the two-day contest behind fifthranked buckeye men’s and women’s teams.

outside the water, former diving coach caiming Xie was recognized Friday night for his 25 years at the helm of notre dame diving. saturday morning 19 i rish seniors were honored alongside their parents. The meet comes just weeks before the acc championships in mid-February, followed by the ncaa championships in march. head coach c hris Lindauer said the weekend was all about swimmers cleaning up the tools they’ve been developing all season.

“The grind, the hard work, that’s already been put in...,” Lindauer said. “We really like to focus on component swimming. For me that involves a couple of things, but the biggest thing is athleticism.” i n addition to sharpening up the water sport’s athletically driven components such as starts, turns, breakouts and underwaters, Lindauer added that keeping his student-athletes well-rested is crucial.

“Giving these guys some time to recover, rest, prepare mentally, physically, get ahead on school as they go into championship season, that really helps reduce stress,” Lindauer said. “You want to be able to go to the meet and swim freely… coming out and just go have some fun and race.” backstroke was another high point for the i rish men. senior Jack Fitzpatrick placed first in the men’s 100-yard backstroke and freshman Tommy Janton punched in a first-place finish of his own in the 200-yard race. a pair of i rish seniors from the women’s program, e llie Jew and coleen Gillilan, took the top spot on the podium as well. Jew secured the quickest time in the women’s 200-yard, and Gillilan did likewise in the women’s 200-yard butterfly. on the diving end of the pool, head coach mark bradshaw said sophomore callie brady and freshman daniel Knapp dove their best of the season. brady’s performance was good enough for first place in the women’s 1-meter diving event, and graduate student a llie Klein followed with a silver. i n both the men’s 1-meter and 3-meter diving events, Knapp recorded second-place finishes. bradshaw said the c on T inued F rom PaGe 12 with long-shot efforts. albert went on to give the irish a brief lead with a third shot from distance. a late Florida state equalizer brought the game to overtime, and notre dame lost an ill-fated penalty kick shootout. albert’s brilliance also shined in a key clash against duke. The blue devils went on to finish no. 6 in national rankings. The sophomore was the only irish player to find the back of the net against the blue devils, converting both a penalty and a vicious curled strike in a 2-2 draw. if the current buzz is true, albert will be joining a PsG squad in the thick of a title race. The Parisians sit second in the table in France’s di arkema behind olympique Lyonnais. They’re just a single point behind current leaders Lyon, with nine matches to play in the season.

The notre dame men performed strongly as a team in freestyle, taking home the gold in the men’s 200-yard and 800-yard freestyle relays. senior Jack hoagland, a member of the men’s 800-yard freestyle relay squad, struck gold individually as well, triumphing in the men’s 400-yard individual medley ( im ) and men’s 500-yard freestyle.

Contact J.J. Post at jpost2@nd.edu