SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The University of Notre Dame swimming and diving teams returned to the pool for the first time this semester for the Tim Welsh Classic, honoring the 30-year Notre Dame coach that passed last June. The 20th-ranked women’s team finished the weekend first overall with 1334.5 points to defeat #25 Akron and #9 Ohio State. The men finished second behind Ohio State with 1321.5 points.
The women finished the weekend with wins in seven events and the men won xx events, including breaking two pool records. Colleen Gillilan led the way for the women with four event wins on the weekend while Josh Bottelberghe also won four events to lead the men’s side and was part of one of the pool records being broken on the weekend.
Gillilan led the women with three individual wins at the Tim Welsh Classic and she had NCAA B Cut times in all three of those events. She started with a win in the 200 IM with a time of 1:57.65. In her first event of the evening session, she finished first in the 100 fly with a time of 51.76. Her last individual win came on Saturday in the 200 fly with a time of 1:55.55. All three of those times were season-best times for Gillilan.
Gillilan along with Kallie Chelsvig, Sydney Whiting and Madelyn Christman took the top spot in the 400 freestyle relay with a mark of 3:17.38. Gillilan also tallied a second place finish in the 400 medley relay with a time of 3:36.22.
After breaking two program records in his last meet at the Ohio State Invitational, senior Josh Bottelberghe had another strong performance on senior weekend. His two individual wins came in the 100 breast (52.97) and 200 breast (1:55.63), both NCAA B Cut times. Bottelberghe also clinched wins in the 200 medley relay (1:25.02) and 400 medley relay (3:09.00). The 400 medley relay team of Bottelberghe, Charles Korndorffer, Cason Wilburn and Chris Guiliano set the pool record with the time of 3:09.00. That same relay group finished first in the 200 medley as well.
That was not the only pool record to be broken on the weekend as Guiliano was a part of the other record that fell. In the first leg of the 200 freestyle relay, Guiliano finished with a 19.60 split in the 50 free to break the facility record. Later in the meet, he finished first in the 50 freestyle with a time of 19.72 to earn a B Cut time and earned another B Cut time in the 100 free after finishing third with a time of 43.44. Wilburn finished one spot ahead of Guiliano in the 100 free with a B Cut time of 43.36.
On the diving board, another school record was almost broken by graduate student Kelly Straub. She set a career-best mark with a win in the 3-meter diving with a score of 375.45, just shy of breaking Natalie Stitt’s record of 3:76.20. Straub placed third in the 1-meter diving with a mark of 299.90. Freshman Calie Brady had a pair of second place finishes in the 3-meter (318.50) and 1-meter diving (303.60) events. On the men’s side, senior David Petrison led the way with team-best scores in the 3-meter (327.50) and 1-meter (268.65) diving events.
Another pair of seniors picked up individual wins on senior weekend for the Irish. Luciana Thomas finished first in the 400 IM with a time of 4:17.46. Max Miranda finished first in the men’s 400 IM with an NCAA B Cut time of 3:50.26. The Irish swept the podium in the 1650 free with freshman Maggie Graves finishing first (16:35.13), freshman Sophia Karras placing second (16:37.54) and senior Sammie Eyolfson rounding out the group in third (16:37.59).
The final two individual wins on the weekend came in the 400 IM from Tyler Christianson with a B Cut time of 1:46.71 and the 200 free from Thacher Scannell with a time of 1:37.85. Christianson also earned B Cut times in the 100 breast (54.24) and 200 breast (1:57.83) while finishing second in both events.
UP NEXT
The Irish are back in the pool at Rolfs Aquatic Center this weekend as they host UIC in a one-day dual meet. The meet kicks off Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. ET and admission is free for all fans.
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