Blue & Gold Blue Streaked
Falcons drop dual meet to JCU

SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio –The Notre Dame Swimming & Diving team traveled just across the zip code in a dual meet hosted by John Carroll on Saturday. Despite four Gold medal finishes for the Falcons, NDC fell 158-137 to even out their dual meet record to 1-1.

The Blue & Gold  won the first event of the afternoon when Maria Buenano (So/Guyaquil, Ecuador) touched in first in the 200 Yard Butterfly with a time of 2:19.84. Classmate Shannan Fitzgerald (So/Hewitt, NJ) brought home the silver in the 1-2 finish with a time of 2:33.27.

In the 50 Yard Freestyle, the Falcons swept the podium with finishers in the first three spots. Kelly O’Connor (So/Peoria, AZ) came in first in 26.73 followed by Julia Bridgford (Fr/DeWitt, MI) and Angela Giamei (Jr/Lyndhurst, OH). 

Emily Perkins (So/Cincinnati, OH) earned her third medal of the night with a first place finish in the 200 Yard Backstroke.

The last two events of the day brought six medals for the Falcons. Fitzgerald picked up a top finish in the 200 Yard Individual Medley finishing in 2:25.68. Perkins grabbed second place (2:28.81) while newcomer Maggie Simpson (Fr/Hudson, OH) touched in third (2:30.54).

The Falcons travel to Pittsburgh next Saturday, Nov. 10 to compete at the Chatham College Invitational.

Notes from the Nest….

Debut to dive for: Gina Gestaldo (Fr/Chesterland, OH) made the first-ever appearance in NDC diving competition earning 118.40 points and finishing in fourth place.

See you in San Antonio:  The Falcons have already qualified seven swimmers in eight different events for the 2008 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Championship Meet being held on Feb. 29-Mar. 1 in San Antonio, Texas: Emily Perkins, Jackie Walsh (Fr/Findlay, OH), Maria Buenano, Kelly O’Connor, Shannan Fitzgerald, Julia Bridgford and Angela Giamei.