The men’s and women’s Fighting Irish of Notre Dame kicked off their 2015-16 seasons with wins on their home turf tonight. Oakland University (M), Olivet Nazarene University, Illinois State University (W), IUPUI and Wright State University made the trip to Rolfs Aquatic Center to swim in the 2015 Dennis Stark Relays meet, in honor of the man who started the Notre Dame men’s swimming program in 1958.
Final Scores from Meet Mobile:
Men – Notre Dame 166, Oakland University 140, Olivet Nazarene University 110, IUPUI 106, Wright State 94
Women – Notre Dame 200, Illinois State 138, IUPUI 108, Wright State 96, Olivet Nazarene University 82
The women from Notre Dame took two of the three relay events, starting with the 200 free relay. The combination of Catherine Mulquin (23.70), Cat Galletti (23.60), Tayde Revilak (23.79) and Ella Moynihan (23.60) proved lethal enough to claim the win in a time of 1:34.69, a mark almost 4 full seconds ahead of the rest of the field.
3 of those same 4 girls took to the pool in the 400 medley relay as well, as the foursome of Galletti (56.72), Danielle Margheret (1:03.86), Revilak (55.71) and Mulquin (51.22) earning the win with a final time of 3:47.51 for their efforts.
Drawing a DQ in the final relay, the 800 freestyle relay, Notre Dame fell short of a clean sweep, giving Illinois State University the opportunity to clinch the victory in a winning time of 7:54.75. Wright State was also DQ’d in that same race.
The Fighting Irish was also 2 for 3 on the men’s side with each of Notre Dame’s two wins coming from a completely different array of athletes. The squad of Justin Plaschka (21.07), Daniel Speers (19.91), Tabahn Afrik (20.52) and Kevin Bradley (20.48) took the first-place finish in the 200 free relay in a time of 1:21.98.
The other Notre Dame blow was brought down by Richard Mannix (1:43.34), Steven Shek (1:44.10), Trent Jackson (1:40.67) and Joe Petrone (1:44.62) who joined forces for a winning time of 6:52.63 for the 800 free relay win.
However, the Oakland University combo of Aleksander Danielewski (50.86), Devon Nowicki (55.41), Paul Huch (50.71), and Jeremiah Morren (46.96) proved too much for the home team, bringing home a Golden Grizzlies win in the 400 medley relay, clocking a time of 3:23.94 to beat the field by almost 2 full seconds.
