COLLEGE STATION, Texas, October 28. IT was a solid 2006-07 dual meet debut for the No. 17 Notre Dame men's swimming and diving team on Saturday as the Irish defeated Texas A&M 169-129 in the Student Recreation Natatorium. Sophomores Jeff Wood (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport) and Sam Pendergast (Melbourne, Australia) both collected two wins apiece in their Fighting Irish dual meet debuts. Wood, a transfer from Indiana, won both the 100 and 200-yard backstroke, while Pendergast, who did not compete during his freshman season, notched victories in the 100 and 200 breaststroke.
Wood and Pendergast were also part of the winning 200-yard medley relay team for the Irish, who captured nine of 16 events on the afternoon. Joining them on the winning relay quartet were seniors Tim Kegelman (Yorktown, Va./Tabb) and Louis Cavadini (South Bend, Ind./Riley). Kegelman added to his victory total by winning the 100-yard butterfly.
Also claiming titles for the Irish were junior Jay Vanden Berg (Holland, Mich./Southfield Christian School) in the 1,000-yard free, senior Ted Brown (Kokomo, Ind./Western) in the 200-yard free and freshman John Lytle (Clearfield, Pa./Clearfield Area) in the 100 free. The Irish took three of the five scoring spots in 12 of 14 non-relay events.
"What an exciting season debut for Notre Dame swimming," stated Irish head coach Tim Welsh following the meet. "We had great performances across the board from the freshman class to the senior class. We had good competitiveness and showed a lot of guts in winning close races. Overall, it was a very, very strong meet for us."