NCAA Div. I Men: Notre Dame Spanks Kalamazoo

NOTRE DAME, Ind., Oct.11. THE University of Notre Dame men's swimming and diving team won its initial dual meet of the season 139-96 over Kalamazoo on Friday evening. The Irish won nine of the first 10 events in the meet order to assure the victory.

A number of Irish swimmers and divers had solid meets, led by sophomore Frank Krakowski's two victories (50 freestyle, 100 fly).

The Irish got off to a strong start in the meet, keyed by a rookie on the 400 medley relay team. Doug Bauman ended up with a 52.66 split for his backstroke length of the race, helping his teammates (Jason Fitzpatrick, Frank Krakowski and J.R. Teddy) to a victory in 3:33.48.

Notre Dame ended up getting 15 points in the first event, as the team of Matt Hyde, Tyler Grenda, Patrick Heffernan and Travis Kline took second place in 3:40.49.

Sophomore Matt Bertke kept the Irish momentum alive with a dominating performance in the 1,000 freestyle. Bertke led from start to finish, earning his victory in 9:44.82. Freshman Patrick Davis took second place in 9:52.33, while senior Mike Flanagan ended up third in 10:01.28.

Kalamazoo grabbed its first victory in the 200 freestyle, as J.D. Schneider swam to first place in 1:42.74. Notre Dame's Matt Obringer was second (1:46.09), while freshman Bryan Guarnier (1:48.64) was third.

Krakowski made sure that the Irish got back in the win column with a solid effort in the 50 freestyle. He tapped first in 21.82, followed by teammate and freshman Tim Randolph in second place (22.04).

The Irish team surged ahead in the meet even more with a dominating performance in the 200 individual medley. Four Irish swimmers swept the top four positions, led by sophomore David Moisan in 1:58.90. Patrick Heffernan was second (2:00.99), senior Travis Kline was third (2:05.55) and junior Josh Dermott (2:06.04) ended up fourth.

Head coach Tim Welsh has leaned heavily on his divers over the last few seasons and the 2002-03 season has begun in the same fashion. Senior Andy Maggio, who has his eyes on qualifying for the NCAA Championship this season, began his dual-meet schedule very strong with a victory off the three-meter board with 288.75 points. Notre Dame's Joe Miller took third (256.45) and Tong Xie (227.40) was fifth.

Krakowski jumped back in the pool after the diving break to post his second victory of the meet in the 100 fly (52.14). Lucas Wymore was right behind Krakowski in second and Guarnier took third.

The 100 freestyle was next in the meet order and freshman Tim Randolph posted his first dual-meet victory in his Notre Dame career, out-touching teammate Matt Obringer at the wall. Randolph's first-place time was 48.61, while Obringer was right there at 48.62.

Bauman, who started off the Irish meet strong with his effort in the 400 medley relay, earned a individual victory in the 100 backstroke. Another freshman experiencing his first collegiate dual-meet win, Bauman finished first in 53.42. Senior Matt Hyde was second in 56.14

Another distance freestyle event was due next and junior J.R. Teddy kept the Notre Dame win streak alive with a 4:43.20 first-place effort. Freshman Patrick Davis ended up third in 4:48.64.

Notre Dame moved all its swimmers and divers into an exhibition mode after the 500 victory, but the last races were not without drama. The Irish men's 400 freestyle out-touched the Kalamazoo A team by .01 seconds in the final event of the meet.

The Irish will be back in action next weekend on the road at the Air Force Academy.

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