Amid the gambling controversy that suspended the Notre Dame men’s swimming team for the 2024-25 season, the diving team, despite being allowed to compete, appeared to suffer negative effects. While it was unclear whether the suspension played a role, head diving coach Mark Bradshaw took his talents to Purdue after coaching the previous three seasons for the Irish. However, the program turned in the right direction when head swimming coach Chris Lindauer added Josh Arndt as head diving coach. Arndt had most recently been the head diving coach at Virginia, contributing to the team’s last two NCAA national championship victories.
Under Arndt’s tutelage, the two-man diving squad of juniors Daniel Knapp and Ben Nguyen had a stellar season. While Knapp missed the cut for the zone C championships, Nguyen qualified and finished fourth on the platform in mid-March, just missing out on qualifying for the 3-meter as well, where he placed 16th. The junior holds the school record on the platform and took sixth at the ACC championships back in February. Preparing for the NCAA championships on Saturday, Nguyen hoped to improve on his 37th-place finish in 2024.
On Saturday afternoon at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatics Center outside of Seattle, he was able to do just that. He managed two top-20 dives, including seventh in his final dive after executing a back 2 1/2 somersault 1 1/2 twist pike. His final score of 294.60 earned him the 29th spot on the leaderboard, improving on last season’s result. In a campaign defined early by controversy on the swimming side, Nguyen helped the Notre Dame program end on a high note.
