Notre Dame swimming kickstarted their postseason this past weekend with the Ohio State Winter Invitational in Columbus, Ohio. Irish attendees saw wins in 15 events, with 10 swimmers individually claiming a gold medal. Sophomores Gretchen Lueking and Samuel Sierra each won three events a piece, with Lueking capturing the 100 freestyle (50.21), 200 freestyle (1:48.83) and 200 IM (2:00.93) and Sierra the 200 butterfly (1:46.69), 200 IM (1:46.12) and 400 IM (3:50.52).
Five men — graduate student Luka Cvetko, sophomore Ryan Malicki, Sierra, senior Luke Uttley and junior Andrew Guziec also earned six NCAA B cuts.
ACC Championships
Next up, the Irish will compete at the 2024 ACC Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina. Held from Tuesday morning (Feb. 20) to Saturday evening (Feb. 24), this multi-day meet has the team eyeing up the possibility of their most successful ACC Championship performance in history.
“This is exciting because we have talent on both sides that are hungry and want to pursue the ultimate level,” head coach Chris Lindauer said. “We are very optimistic on both sides.”
Men’s Preview
The No. 11 men’s swim and dive squad will be led by none other than junior reigning ACC 200 freestyle champion Chris Guiliano. Headed into the meet, Guiliano is seeded first in both the 100 and 200 freestyle, sitting at second in the 50 freestyle.
Backstroke has also been a source of dominance for the Notre Dame men, with sophomores Tommy Janton and Marcus Gentry seeded No. 4 and No. 5 in the 100 backstroke. Three other Irish swimmers are seeded in the top 20 in this event. The duo of Janton and Gentry appears again as the third and fourth seeds, respectively, in the 200 backstroke. The Irish also have the potential to make their presence known in relay events.
“There’s no doubt we want to win some relays at ACCs,” Lindauer said. “I’m certainly excited to pursue those opportunities. We want to just bring that Irish energy in, have that presence and let it be noticed. Put the swimming world on notice that Notre Dame has arrived.”
As for divers, sophomore Daniel Knapp just missed the podium last year and is looking for redemption after an injury. Knapp comes in with the third best score in the 1-meter. Sophomore Benedict Nguyen, a 2023 finalist, is seeded fourth in the platform.
Women’s Preview
For the women, junior Madelyn Christman is seeded third in the 200 backstroke and has seen back-to-back best times in this event. Graduate student Ellie Jew has the chance to stand out in the breaststroke events given her seniority. Jew is currently seeded 16th in the 100 and 13th in the 200. Junior Maggie Graves also has high potential, looking to secure an NCAA A cut in the 1650 freestyle. Junior diver Calie Brady is seeded fifth in the 1-meter and fourth in the 3 meter. Brady is a two-time NCAA qualifier.
In terms of a game plan for the meet, for Lindauer it is all about controlling the controllables and letting the work pay off.
“We want to manage and control the controllables, emphasize team culture, stay present and get a little bit better each session,” Lindauer said. “If we do that, we’re talented, we’re prepared enough in the water to go out with that ‘shock the world’ mentality and do something this program has never done before.”
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