With head coach Michael Norment in his first year at the helm, both the Notre Dame men’s and women’s swim and dive teams entered October with uncertainty. Not only was the program in a natural rebuilding period, with new staff additions and 20 freshmen comprising the 57-person roster, but its male athletes had not competed in over a year and a half.
The program elevated to a high level in 2023-24, as the season marked the men’s first top 10 NCAA finish in program history, and two Irish athletes were sent to compete in the Paris Olympics. That August, however, the lights dimmed as an investigation by the NCAA revealed that members of the men’s side ran an internal betting ring on team performances; consequently, the squad was suspended for the entire 2024-25 season. The women were left to represent the Blue and Gold alone — amid the challenges, they impressively placed 12th as a team at the ACC Championships and sent a relay group to NCAAs for the first time since 2019.
In April 2025, the men’s squad was able to train with the rest of its team again. “Once I got back in April, it was so nice to just be back with the team again,” senior swimmer Marcus Reyes-Gentry said, this year’s captain and a recipient of the Don Casey MVP Award. “From about August to January, I didn’t even know if I was ever going to be able to swim again,” he added, having been a participant in the gambling circle and one waiting to receive a response from the NCAA regarding appeal letters. “So that was definitely a hard stretch [of time] for me.”
The Irish understandably started the season working out some kinks under Norment — both sides fell to ranked Michigan and Wisconsin teams at home Oct. 10. However, standout performances from veterans and newcomers alike raised the bar for what the Irish could accomplish. In addition to expected star power from senior U.S. National Team member Tommy Janton and sophomore Shane Eckler, rookie Min-Gyo Jang placed third in the 50 free. Seniors Daniel Knapp and Ben Nguyen won the diving events for the Irish, and freshman Matthew Wong had a strong debut with a second-place finish in the 1-meter.
On the women’s side, senior Grace Courtney and graduate Calie Brady dominated in the diving events, respectively placing first and second in both the 1-meter and 3-meter, while sophomore Carli Cronk and freshmen Emily Hamill, Kate Simon and Becky Rentz showed early potential in their distance and sprint entries.
The growth and growing pains continued as the Irish swept Northeastern across the board in dual meets on Oct. 24, before falling hard to Louisville on Nov. 7. Potential was still woven deeper into the fabric of the Blue and Gold, however, with particularly consistent showings from Reyes-Gentry, Janton, Eckler, Knapp, Nguyen, Jang, Courtney, Cronk and Hamill. Sophomore Patrick Branon additionally shone against Northeastern, earning the 10th spot in program history in the 500 free, and fellow sophomore Sean Atkinson earned a win in the 1000 free, along with senior Dillon Edge triumphing in the 100 fly. Sophomore Hollie Widdows won three events, touching first in the 100 free, 100 fly and 100 IM.
All this culminated in a string of great midseason performances, first at the Miami (OH) Invite, where Notre Dame won both competitions; the men won 12 events and finished with a total score of 1778, while the women placed first in 11 events and ended with a score of 1628. The women then won their meet against Miami (FL) 162.5-137.5, and the men took down Minnesota and Tampa, winning 145-117 and 174-88, respectively. A quick bump in the road came when the teams were edged out by Kentucky, with the men losing 112-187 and the women 141-158. To wrap up their regular season at home, the Irish bounced back with wins against Illinois, Indiana State and Akron in the annual Tim Welsh Classic on Jan. 23 and 24.
Commenting on the highlight of the season, Reyes-Gentry said, “It was really cool to be in that senior and captain position this year, and, you know, see a lot of some of the younger guys grow.” He added, “I think a lot of the freshmen were kind of trying to grapple with the idea that in college swimming, it’s not really realistic to drop all the time like how they used to … you kind of need to embrace being in the trenches, rather than let it tear you down mentally … I think that’s a big adjustment for a lot of them, which they were able to figure out as the season went on.”
At the ACC championships, the men finished ninth, and the women finished 11th on their way to breaking six school records. In the NCAA championships, the men finished 37th, and the women tied for 33rd. Reyes-Gentry was the standout for the Irish, as he finished seventh in the men’s 100-meter backstroke with a time of 44.14 and earned All-American honors and posted a time of 44.07 in prelims to break the school record.
With Norment leading the Irish, Reyes-Gentry believes the future is bright with his ability to bring out the best in the athletes in and out of the pool. Reyes-Gentry mentioned his special talent for giving speeches with lessons that extend to life in general. “There’s one quote that he says that I feel like really resonates well with me,” he said. “It’s, ‘you don’t rise to the occasion, you fall back on your habits.’ That’s just like one of those things that he tells you right before a race to give you some confidence that you’ve put in the work — just go race.”
