Notre Dame lost to both No. 24 Wisconsin and No. 14 Indiana in a double meet in Madison, Wisconsin, on Friday and Saturday.
The Irish (4-9) won four events, including three victories from senior Emma Reaney that bested the NCAA ‘B’ cut standard, but lost 244-109 to the Badgers and 255-98 to the Hoosiers.
Reaney won the 100-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard individual medley Friday before winning the 200-yard breaststroke by a margin of almost six seconds Saturday. Senior diver Allison Casareto also recorded a win, taking the one-meter board with a career-best 327.50 points.
Despite Reaney and Casareto’s wins, Irish coach Tim Welsh said that fatigue meant Notre Dame was not able to keep up with its ranked Big Ten opponents.
“I think that in terms of our performance, fatigue was a primary factor,” Welsh said. "It was a very hard meet, and we’ve been running on empty for quite some time. We ran out of gas before we ran out of races, but we’ll fill up the tank again and we’ll be alright.”
However, Welsh also said that both of Notre Dame’s opponents were very strong teams.
“Fatigue was a factor, but I also think that if you look at the three teams analytically, you would give the advantage to Indiana and to Wisconsin in almost any circumstances,” Welsh said. "They’re both ranked, they’re both doing well this year, and they both swam very well this weekend, so congratulations to them, they both looked great.”
In addition to the four wins, the Irish team of Reaney, senior Courtney White, junior Catherine Galletti and sophomore Catherine Mulquin recorded a second-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay and finished fourth in the 400-yard medley. Notre Dame also took second, third and fourth place on the three-meter board, with Casareto finishing ahead of juniors Lindsey Streepey and Emma Gaboury.
The Irish also took four of the top six places in the 200-yard breaststroke, as sophomore Danielle Margheret, junior Genevieve Bradford and freshman Sherri McIntee finished fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively, behind Reaney.
Other top finishes for the Irish included fourth-place showings for Galletti in the 100-yard backstroke and Margheret in the 100-yard breaststroke and a fifth-place finish for senior Bridget Casey in the 200-yard butterfly.
Welsh said that he was able to take many positives from the team’s performances in a difficult meet, despite the loss.
“The spirit was good, the camaraderie was good [and] the diving was very good,"Welsh said. "I think Allison’s win on Saturday was excellent. The divers’ 2-3-4 [finish on the three-meter board] on Friday, that was excellent, and of course Emma Reaney’s always good. We had some great spots, but overall it was a hard meet.”
The Irish next take to the pool when they host the Shamrock Invitational at Rolfs Aquatic Center on Jan. 30-31.
