The Iowa men’s swimming team defeated Notre Dame for the second time in as many months this past weekend at the Shamrock Invitational. The Hawkeyes topped the Fighting Irish, 216-154, in the three-session championship-style meet in South Bend, Ind.
No. 14 Iowa (6-2, 5-1 Big Ten) last met Notre Dame at the Hawkeye Invitational on Dec. 2. Iowa placed second at the invitational, and the Irish earned third place in the six-team competition.
Iowa head coach Marc Long said this past weekend would be a good test to see how much "grit" his team had. What he found out was that his squad has quite a bit of depth.
The Hawkeyes had two relay teams earn NCAA "B" qualifying times for the 200-free relay. Dustin Rhoads, Andrew Marciniak, Byron Butler, and Ryan Phelan placed first with a time of 1:30.33 minutes. The quartet of Grant Betulius, Korey Schneider, Paul Gordon, and Jordan Huff was close behind the first team with a time of 1:30.65.
Iowa would be sitting pretty if the NCAA championships were to begin tomorrow. The Hawkeyes posted four other times that met the "B" qualifying mark: Gordon in the 200 free; Huff, Patrick Weigand, Manuel Belzer, and Gordon in the 800-free relay; Gianni Sesto, Huff, Phelan, and Gordon in the 400-free relay; and Belzer in the 1,650 free.
Belzer may have had the most impressive performance of the weekend; he broke the 17-year-old pool record in the 1,650 free with a time of 15:28.85 minutes.
— by Ben Ross