Coleen Gillilan Wins Twice as Notre Dame Wraps Up Tim Welsh Classic Win
Coleen Gillilan won the women’s 200 butterfly and swam a leg on Notre Dame’s winning 400 free relay to wrap up the overall win at the Irish’s Tim Welsh Classic.
It makes four wins for Gillilan, leading the Irish to 1,264.5 points. Akron was second with 933, ahead of Ohio State’s 797.5 in an invitational-scored tri-meet over two days.
On the men’s side, Ohio State scored 1,445.5 points to prevail over Notre Dame’s 1,255.5.
For the third time on the weekend, Gillilan set a best time of the season, clocking in at 1:55.55 in the 200 fly to win by more than two seconds. She split 49.28 in the 400 free – identical to teammate Sydney Whiting – as the Irish edged the Buckeyes by .31 seconds. Kallie Chelsvig led off, and Madelyn Christman got the Irish the win with a 48.79 off the end.
Notre Dame took the top three spots in the 1,650 free, led by Maggie Graves in 16:35.13. Whiting finished second in the 100 free, Chelsvig was the 200 backstroke runner-up and the Irish took places two through four in 1-meter diving.
Akron had another strong day, though the Zips couldn’t build on Friday’s three relay wins. Weronika Gorecka won the 200 back in 1:56.16, Paulina Nogaj was second to Gillilan in the 200 fly and Andrea Fischer was the 200 breast runner-up.
Ohio State assembled a stronger second day. Amy Fulmer set the pace in the 100 free at 49.57 with teammate Katherine Zenick third. Josie Panitz sealed the breaststroke sweep with a 2:13.43 to hold off Fischer. Zenick and Fulmer joined Kristen Romano and Teresa Ivan on the 400 free relay that finished second.
Ohio State’s men won all but one swimming event on the day. Charlie Clark started it by going 15:02.65 to ease to victory in the mile. Thomas Watkins set a season-best time of 1:45.32 to hold off Notre Dame’s Kaden Smesko by .35 seconds. Hunter Armstrong sprinted to another win with his 43.12 in the 100 free. And Alex Quach finished his fly sweep by going 1:44.61 in the 200. Jacob Fielding paced the 3-meter diving field.
Notre Dame’s only individual swimming win came via Josh Bottelberghe, who capped a breaststroke sweep with a 1:55.63 in the 200. Notre Dame took the top four spots, Tyler Christianson second again.
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