Feb. 7, 1997

Notre Dame Men's Swimming Edged By Western Kentucky

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Notre Dame's men swimming and diving team fell just short in its bid to hand Western Kentucky its first loss of the season. The Hilltoppers climb to 10-0 on the season with a 125-118 win over the Irish who now stand at 6-5 on the season. The meet came down to the last event, the 400-yard freestyle relay, and Western Kentucky placed first and third to overcome a 114-112 Notre Dame lead heading into the last event.

The Irish, in their final home dual-meet of the season at Rolfs Aquatic Center, started strongly and built a 13-4 lead in winning first and third after the 400 medley relay to open the meet. Western Kentucky then took its first lead at 28-27 with wins in the 1000 and 200 freestyle.

Ron Royer recaptured the lead for Notre Dame with his win in the 50 freestyle. The Irish then swept the top three spots in the 200 individual medley as Robert Fetter, Matt Rose and Jeff Page swam one, two and three to increase Notre Dame's lead to 55-38. Herb Huesman and Tyler Maertz took first and second in the one-meter diving for the Irish and a 68-44 lead.

Western Kentucky then reeled off four-straight first-place finished but Notre Dame withstood the rally by taking second in all four events to hang on to a 97-91 lead with three events remaining. Huesman and Maertz took first and second once again in the three-meter diving to build a 110-97 lead.

Western Kentucky won first, second and third in the 200 breaststroke to cut the Irish lead to 114-112 before the Hilltoppers won the final event to remain unbeaten on the season.

Notre Dame closes its 1996-97 dual-meet season at Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Saturday, Feb. 8.

Event:  400 Medley Relay
1.  ND (Fugate, Rose, Beville, Royer)       3:30.89
2.  WK Mandigo, MacCallum, Ray, Heeg)       3:32.77
3.  ND (Saylor, Fonseca, Bard, Clearkin)    3:40.33
4.  WK (Carey, Ungetheim, Smart, Terry)     3:47.33
5.  ND (Revers, Driscoll, Stolz, Cahill)    3:49.60
After One Event:
Notre Dame 13, Western Kentucky 4
Event:  1000 Freestyle
1.  Scott Cummins, WK    9:45.69
2.  John Lubker, ND      9:48.63
3.  Kicker Vencill, WK   9:49.94
4.  Wes Richardson, ND   9:53.11
5.  Sean Casey, ND       9:53.15
6.  Steve Hopkins, WK   10:54.86
After Two Events:
Notre Dame 20, Western Kentucky 16
Event:  200 Freestyle
1.  Sean O'Shea, WK      1:44.63
2.  Ray Fitzpatrick, ND  1:45.54
3.  Craig Evans, WK      1:45.71
4.  Brian Najarian, ND   1:46.08
4.  Rich Murphy, ND      1:46.08
6.  Brian Howard, WK     1:47.40
7.  John Steffen, ND     1:49.14
8.  Aaron Terry, WK      1:54.89
After Three Events:
Western Kentucky 28, Notre Dame 27
Event:  50 Freestyle
1.  Ron Royer, ND           21.61
2.  Mike Liggett, WK        21.82
3.  Mike Doyle, ND          21.84
4.  Jason Dore, WK          22.21
5.  Corrie Bumps, WK        22.23
6.  Steele Whowell, ND      22.40
7.  Brandon Ungetheim, WK   22.78
8.  Slade Stolz, ND         22.91
After Four Events:
Notre Dame 39, Western Kentucky 35
Event:  200 Individual Medley
1.  Robert Fetter, ND       1:56.09
2.  Matt Rose, ND           1:56.39
3.  Jeff Page, ND           1:58.23
4.  Adam Heeg, WK           1:59.02
5.  Andrew MacCallum, WK    2:00.67
6.  Mike Driscoll, ND       2:04.55
7.  Eric Kemeny, WK         2:05.66
8.  Casey Diercks, WK       2:10.44
After Five Events:
Notre Dame 55, Western Kentucky 38
Event:  One-Meter Diving
1.  Herbie Huesman, ND  298.95
2.  Tyler Maertz, ND    234.37
3.  Nick Pearl, WK      231.59
4.  Joe Hutchinson, WK  188.77
5.  Matt Atkinson, WK   165.37
After Six Events:
Notre Dame 68, Western Kentucky 44
Event:  200 Butterfly
1.  Richard Roy, WK         1:53.57
2.  Ry Beville, ND          1:56.98
3.  Craig Evans, WK         1:57.16
4.  Rich Murphy, ND         1:57.70
5.  Adam Heeg, WK           2:00.99
6.  Chuck Bard, ND          2:03.51
7.  Bryson Toothaker, ND    2:04.08
8.  Jason Smart, WK         2:11.93
After Seven Events:
Notre Dame 74, Western Kentucky 57
Event:  100 Freestyle
1.  Mike Ligget, WK      47.26
2.  Robert Fetter, ND    47.49
3.  Ron Royer, ND        47.51
4.  Ray Fitzpatrick, ND  48.61
5.  John Kennedy, ND     48.67
6.  Corrie Bumps, WK     48.82
7.  Aaron Terry, WK      51.39
After Eight Events:
Notre Dame 83, Western Kentucky 67
Event:  200 Backstroke
1.  Sean O'Shea, WK     1:54.64
2.  Chris Fugate, ND    1:56.65
3.  Jeff Page, ND       1:58.67
4.  Travis Mandigo, WK  1:59.09
5.  Pete Carey, WK      1:59.83
6.  Josh Saylor         2:00.28
7.  Mike Donovan, ND    2:01.94
8.  Eric Kemeny, WK     2:10.34
After Nine Events:
Notre Dame 90, Western Kentucky 79
Event:  500 Freestyle
1.  Scott Cummins, WK   4:43.71
2.  John Lubker, ND     4:47.57
3.  Kicker Vencill, WK  4:47.80
4.  Brian Najarian, ND  4:49.96
5.  Sean Casey, ND      4:50.07
6.  Wes Richardson, ND  4:50.18
7.  Brian Howard, WK    4:53.67 
8.  Steve Hopkins, WK   5:23.60
After 10 Events:
Notre Dame 97, Western Kentucky 91
Event:  Three-Meter Diving
1.  Herb Huesman, ND    324.52
2.  Tyler Maertz, ND    252.45
3.  Matt Atkinson, WK   222.22
4.  Nick Pearl, WK      213.37
5.  Joe Hutchinson, WK  187.65
After 11 Events:
Notre Dame 110, Western Kentucky 97
Event:  200 Breaststroke
1.  Andrew MacCallum, WK    2:08.42
2.  Jason Dore, WK          2:09.55
3.  Matt Rose, ND           2:09.64
4.  Pete Carey, WK          2:09.98
5.  Steele Whowell, ND      2:21.33
6.  Tony Fonseca, ND        2:14.63
7.  Kevin McCluskey, ND     2:14.92
8.  Brandon Ungetheim, WK   2:18.80
After 12 Events:
Notre Dame 114, Western Kentucky 112
Event:  400 Freestyle Relay
1.  WK (Roy, Cummins, O'Shea, Ligget)           3:09.21
2.  ND (Fitzpatrick, Beville, Kennedy, Fetter)  3:09.70
3.  WK (Evans, Howard, Mandigo, Bumps)          3:14.48
4.  ND (Steffan, Doyle, Najarian, Murphy)       3:17.23
5.  ND (Clearkin, Kolle, Cahill, Toothaker)     3:22.02
6.  ND (Stolz, Ricardson, Casey, Lubker)        3:27.24
Final Score:
Western Kentucky 125, Notre Dame 118