When it comes to swimming, Northwestern and Notre Dame make a perfect complementary cross-conference couple.
But there will be no love lost this weekend in South Bend, Ind., as the Wildcats aim for their eighth consecutive series win over the Fighting Irish.
“We know this meet is going to be really tough,” coach Jarod Schroeder said. “They are weak where we are strong, and they are strong where we are weak.”
The two teams are opposites statistically. The Fighting Irish’s 37-man squad makes up in depth for what it lacks in first-place finishes, while the Cats’ 19-man team often notches big individual wins but fails to fill out races. NU bests Notre Dame in top times in the breaststroke and butterfly, but Notre Dame edges NU in the backstroke and most freestyle events. The Irish are 3-0 in the Big East, and the Cats are 1-3 in the Big Ten.
Despite the numerous differences that seemingly even out between the two teams, history has been entirely on NU’s side as of late.
The closest the Irish have come to upsetting the Cats was a 22-point loss in 2003. In last season’s matchup, NU came out on top by 50 points with a 175-125 victory. But Notre Dame’s experienced squad could narrow or reverse that margin. NU features its highest percentage of freshmen in series history-eight of the 19 swimmers are newcomers to collegiate swimming. The Irish have 10 freshmen on their squad but boast 37 swimmers overall.
“We don’t have a very big team, and we don’t have a very experienced team, either,” junior Sean Mathews said. “But we have been getting better every meet, the freshmen especially, so we’re going to use that this weekend.”
The Cats had three weeks off from competition but spent 12 days during that period working out at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. Schroeder said the high altitude training was intended to improve the team’s aerobic fitness and push the freshmen to compete at a higher level.
“It was definitely a more difficult experience for the freshmen because we were training so hard,” freshman Varun Shivakumar said. “But in the end we all pushed through, and it will help the rest of our season.”
Shivakumar, the team’s backstroke specialist, gives NU its best chance of cracking into the top four in the 200-yard backstroke. Mathews, who posted the team’s fastest 100-yard backstroke of the season, lags behind six of Notre Dame’s top finishers in the event this season.
The Cats counter with stronger times across the board in the breaststroke, thanks in part to junior Alex Tyler, whose times in the 100- and 200-yard are faster this season than any Notre Dame swimmer. Mathews will also be a contender for first-place finishes in the 100- and 200-yard butterfly and the 50- and 100-yard freestyle, having been named Big Ten Player of the Week in November.
“We definitely have strengths going into this meet, but the test is how we will match against their guys in events where we aren’t strong,” Schroeder said. “This meet is going to come right down to the wire.”
