Swimming and Diving Open ACC at Notre Dame

Poised for another successful season, the University of Louisville men's and women's swimming and diving teams open their 2017-2018 dual meet season this weekend, traveling to the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana for two days of competition.

The Cardinals are looking to build on the momentum from their record-breaking year both in 2016-2017 NCAA season and on the world stage this past summer. Collectively, Louisville returns 11 All-Americans and two Honorable Mention All-Americans, while adding 14 talented newcomers.

The weekend will kick off on Friday at 5 p.m. with the 53rd annual Dennis Stark Relays. This relay-only format will feature a mixture of nine traditional and unique relays for the men and women, as well as two diving events. The Cardinals will face competitors from Notre Dame, Oakland, Indiana State, and Olivet Nazarene.

At the Dennis Stark Relays, swimmers will compete in unconventional events such as the 300 butterfly, backstroke, and breaststroke relays, which consist of three swimmers, each swimming 100 yards of the respective stroke. Other rare events include the 400 IM relay (four swimmers, each swimming a 100 IM) and the 1500 freestyle relay (three swimmers, each swimming 500 yards of freestyle). Swimmers will also have the opportunity to race the traditional 200, 400 and 800 freestyle relays, as well as the 400 medley relay.

The divers will compete in the 1-meter diving relay, where teams of two divers will perform six dives each for a combined 12 dive score. Next, they will partake in the 3-meter synchronized event in which the women will perform five dives and the men will perform six.

On Saturday morning at 11 a.m., the Cardinals will return to the Rolfs Aquatic Center to square-off against ACC foe Notre Dame in their first dual meet of the season. The meet will be executed in a traditional 32-event format, including the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays.

Both the men's and women's squads for the Fighting Irish are coming off of noteworthy 2016-2017 campaigns. At the 2017 NCAA's, the men finished 25th, notching their highest finish in program history. The women concluded last season ranked No. 24 in the final CSCAA Coaches rankings and recorded a seventh place finish at the 2017 ACC Championships.

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