Notre Dame men’s swimming and diving wrapped up their season at the 2022 NCAA Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships this past week. The competition took place at the McAuley Aquatic Center in Atlanta, Georgia, just a week after the women's teams competed.
Senior Josh Bottelberghe, sophomore Tyler Christianson and freshman Chris Guiliano were the individual swimmers for the meet. The trio had a total of seven swims between five different events. They were joined by junior Cason Wilburn, sophomore Kaden Smesko, sophomore Stephan Lukashev and sophomore Luke Uttley. Those four swimmers contributed in the Notre Dame relay events. The Irish placed 33rd overall with a total of five points.
The team was off to a fast start on the first night of competition with a record-breaking 18th place in the 200 medley relay by Smesko, Bottelberghe, Wilburn and Guiliano. The team finished with a time of 1:23.76 beating their former school record of 1:23.81 set over a month ago at the 2022 ACC Championships.
The next day Guiliano took the pool for his first individual championships as a freshman. Placing 19th overall, Guiliano swam the 50 freestyle in 19.25 seconds. He was also a member of the 200 freestyle relay team alongside Wilburn, Lukashev and Uttley. The team placed 20th overall with a time of 1:17.13.
The final day of competition brought some unfortunate outcomes for the men’s team. Nevertheless, the day started off strong with Guiliano’s final individual swim in the 100 freestyle. He placed 35th overall with a time of 42.55. Bottelberghe swam the 200 breaststroke, going 1:53.32 to earn him a 22nd place finish. Christian also competed in the 200 breaststroke but was disqualified. For the last event of the meet, Guiliano, Wilburn, Luke Uttley and Stephan Lukashev took to the pool one last time for the 300 medley relay. The team was disqualified in the relay event, marking the end of the championship meet, and an end to the Irish season.
