Take two
Falcons sweep home tri-meet

SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio –The Notre Dame Swimming & Diving team earned the top spot on the podium in a tri-match on Saturday. NDC hosted Ohio Wesleyan and Pitt-Bradford and tallied 127 points while OWU finished only four points behind with 123. Pitt-Bradford had eight.

NDC started the meet off with a victory in the 200 Yard Medley Relay. The relay comprised of Emily Perkins (So/Cincinnati, OH),  Kelly O’Connor (So/Peoria, AZ), Maria Buenano (So/Guyaquil, Ecuador) and Shannan Fitzgerald (So/Hewitt, NJ) earned gold with a time of 1:59.27.

The Falcons would go on to win eight more gold medals before the afternoon was over, six of them coming in individual races. Buenano picked up her second gold of the day in the 200 Yard Freestyle (2:06.97). Her other first-place victories came in the 200 Yard Butterfly (2:18.05) and the 100 Yard Fly (1:03.22).

Perkins touched in first in the 100 Yard Backstroke (1:06.41) and the 200 Back (2:22.00). Fitzgerald also won two individual medals. In the 500 Yard Free, the sophomore clocked in at 5:38.90. Her other top spot came in the 200 Individual Medley (2:23.19).Rounding out the medal count for the day was O’Connor who earned gold in the 100 Yard Breaststroke.

The Falcons hit the water next at 1:00pm on Saturday, Feb. 2 when they host Chatham College (PA). Following Saturday’s home dual at Mellen Pool, NDC will travel to Bristol, Tenn. for a last chance tune-up before the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) National Championships.

NOTES FROM THE NEST:

20-20 VISION:  Emily Perkins’ victories Saturday in the 100 Yard Backstroke and 200 Yard Backstroke and her third-place finish in the 200 Yard IM run her season medal count to 20.  The sophomore from Cincinnati has now collected five Gold, six Silver, and nine Bronze medals on the season.  Perkins’ 20 medals ties her team-leading total from the 2006-07 season.

GOOD AS GOLD: Maria Buenano’s three individual victories give her 14 Gold medals for the season.  The NDC newcomer has 22 total medals on the season (14 Gold, six Silver, two Bronze), which leads the team.

FAST START:  NDC’s 200 Yard Medley Relay team of Perkins-Buenano-O’Connor-Fitzgerald posted a program-record 1:59.27 to start things off Saturday afternoon.  The members of the relay went on to earn all eight of NDC’s individual Gold medals.