INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Notre Dame junior freestyle sprinter John Lytle of Clearfield won three gold medals and two silver medals and set or shared in seven school records to help lead the Fighting Irish to another team title in the 2009 Big East Conference Swimming & Diving Championships in the Indiana University Natatorium on the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) campus last week.
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John Lytle (Courtesy of University of Notre Dame Athletic Department)
His 43.49-second leadoff leg sparked a thrilling win by the 400-yard relay foursome in the meet\’s final race that enabled defending champion Notre Dame to hold off Louisville 782.5-773 for its fourth for its fourth crown in five years.
Senior Danny Lutkus, sophomore Josh Nosal and junior Andrew Hoffman completed the 2:54.08 effort that bettered the school and conference records. Louisville, the top seed with a time seven seconds faster than Notre Dame\’s best, was a close second in 2:54.40 and would have claimed the team title with a victory.
After the race, according to the Notre Dame\’s official athletic website, head coach Tim Welsh said, \”I hardly know what to say … congratulations to every team that swam in the championships. What is so important about our guys is how much more unified the team became this week. The championship came down to one race, and that time was five seconds faster than last year\’s time with the same guys. I am so proud of our guys, our team and our program.
\”We told the guys before the meet that it might come down to the last race, and if we were victorious, we would win. Our guys knew all along it might come to this and they were prepared for it. All I knew is that the guys were going to give it everything they had and we knew we would race well. The seniors and the upperclassmen will remember this forever.\”
Lytle started the four-day meet the same way, giving the Fighting Irish 800 free relay team a .35-second lead with a 1:36.86 leg. Lutkus, sophomore Steven Brus and junior MacKenzie LeBlanc did the rest for a 6:27.19 clocking that lowered the school and conference standards.
On Thursday, Lytle finished fifth in the 50 free but just missed the NCAA \’B\’ cut time with a 20.05 that took the school record away from Hoffman, who touched in 20.39 in the consolation finals to break the longest-standing record for the Fighting Irish men\’s team. Frank Kratkowski set the previous mark of 20.45 in 2005.
After a short rest, Lytle came right back with a 20.08 leadoff leg for the 200 free relay team that finished second in a school-record and \’B\’ cut time of 1:19.42. Hoffman, Nosal and Lutkus also swam in that event.
A tremendous final lap of 24.55 enabled Lytle to overtake Louisville\’s Brendon Andrews for the gold medal in the 200 free on Friday. He made up a deficit of .39 to nip the Cardinal on the final stroke, touching the wall in a school-record and \’B\’ cut time of 1:35.79. Andrews finished in 1:35.87.
Later, Lytle anchored the 400 medley quartet\’s school-record 3:16.74 that earned fifth place. Mitchell Sherman, Joe Raycroft and LeBlanc dove in ahead of Lytle, whose 43.18 leg moved Notre Dame up two places.
Lytle\’s second silver medal came in the 100 free Saturday. His 43.46 showing made the \’B\’ cut in addition to lowering the Fighting Irish record. He chased Cincinnati\’s Josh Schneider to a meet record 43.08.
Schneider also won the 50 free and 100 butterfly, setting school and Big East Conference records in all three events, and was named the meet\’s Most Outstanding Men\’s Swimmer. His 19.38 in the 50 free was under the NCAA \’A\’ standard.
With All-Big East honors going to the top three placewinners for each event, Lytle picked up five more to pad his three-year total to 16 and become Notre Dame\’s all-time leader.
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WRESTLING
WEST POINT, N.Y. – Army junior 149-pounder Matt Kyler of Clearfield punctuated an undefeated dual meet season with his second narrow win in two weeks over Navy\’s tough Bryce Saddoris in the annual Star Match\’s featured bout Saturday.
The Black Knight All-American escaped five seconds into the third overtime period for a 2-1 tiebreaker decision in the rematch between the two nationally-ranked rivals in Christi Arena.
The only other points were escapes in regulation, and neither could manage a winning takedown in the first overtime period.
Kyler, who was No. 7 in the latest Amateur Wrestling News and Wrestling Insider Newsmagazine rankings and No. 10 in the InterMat/National Wrestling Coaches Association/National Wrestling Media Association poll, rode the 30 seconds he was on top before breaking free for the deciding point and then fending off takedown attempts by Saddoris, who was ranked No. 7 by InterMat/NWCA/NWMA.
A late takedown gave Kyler a 4-2 win over Saddoris 4-2 in the All-Academy Championships finals on Feb. 7.
Kyler, 18-0 in duals, will take a 36-4 record and a 22-match winning streak into the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Championships March 7-8 at Penn. He copped the 141 gold medal last year.
Army, which lost the Senior Day match 26-9 to Navy, finished 10-6-2. The Black Knights were 4-3-1 in the EIWA
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Redshirt sophomore 125-pounder Brad Pataky of Clearfield was handed a 12-4 setback by Penn standout Rollie Peterkin in Penn State\’s season-ending 20-13 loss Friday night.
A crowd of 1,749 in Rec Hall saw Peterkin grab a 5-0 lead on a takedown with 18 seconds gone and a near fall a minute later.
After taking down the Quaker in the middle period to trail 6-2, Pataky cut him loose at the start of the third period but gave up a takedown to fall behind 9-2 with 1:10 left. He reversed for his final points before turning Peterkin loose and then surrendering another takedown with two seconds left.
Peterkin, ranked No. 11 in the InterMat/National Wrestling Coaches Association/National Wrestling Media Association poll, was named Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Wrestler of the Week for his wins over Pataky and Lehigh\’s John McDonald (17-0) on Sunday. The Quaker junior is the defending EIWA champion.
Pataky, who beat Peterkin 12-8 in the 2006 Michigan State Open, was ranked No. 13 by InterMat, No. 10 by Wrestling Insider Magazine and No. 11 by Amateur Wrestling News.
He wound up 18-4 in duals and is 26-7 for the Big Ten Conference Championships which Penn State will host March 7-8.
The Nittany Lions finished a disappointing 8-12-2 in dual meets.
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OSWEGO, N.Y. – Lycoming sophomore 141-pounder of Tom Barger of Clearfield went 1-2 in the toughest weight at the Empire Collegiate Conference Championships hosted by State University of New York-Oswego Saturday.
A 4-1 quarterfinal loss to No. 4 seed Stephen Perez of Cortland (N.Y.) State dropped the fifth-seeded Warrior into the wrestlebacks.
Barger pinned Messiah\’s Alex DeHart at 4:13 but then was pinned at the 2:49 mark by Ithaca\’s John Paxos, who went on to place third.
Luke Baum (38-7) of Rochester Institute of Technology won the 141 title and was named the Outstanding Wrestler, while runner-up Derrik Smith of SUNY-Oswego and Paxos were selected by the coaches to be two of the ECWC\’s five \”wild cards\” for the NCAA Division III Championships on March 5-6.
Barger was 13-6 in dual meets for Lycoming (13-9) and wound up 16-10, matching his freshman record.
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MEN\’S BASKETBALL
GREENSBURG, Pa. – Todd Hryn of Clearfield ended his rookie season for Pitt-Greensburg with 13 points and 16 rebounds in two Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference games last week.
The 6-5 freshman forward pulled down a career-high 13 rebounds and scored nine points at Penn State-Altoona Wednesday with 6-7 senior Daniel Waajid out of the lineup. Hryn\’s previous high for rebounds was six, which he recorded in three games.
The Bobcats lost 72-58 to the Lions but then came back to bounce Franciscan 83-74 in their Senior Day finale in Chambers Hall to finish 7-11 in the AMCC and 8-17 overall.
Hryn averaged 13.7 minutes in 22 games, four as a starter, and scored 94 points for a 4.3 average, shooting 39.1 percent (34-for-87, including 10-for-38 on three-pointers).
He collected 57 rebounds, 23 under the offensive boards, and had six assists, six steals and one blocked shots.
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BASEBALL
CHILLICOTHE, Ohio – The temperatures were cold, but sophomore Adam Jury of Bigler (Clearfield Area High School) was swinging a red-hot bat for Slippery Rock in a weekend series against Tiffin College.
Given the designated hitter role, the 6-0, 195-pound infielder responded by belting eight hits in nine official at-bats, scoring seven runs and driving in three. He drew walks in five other plate appearances.
He was 4-or-4 in The Rock\’s opener, an 11-6 win Friday, singled and walked twice in four at-bats and scored three runs in a 26-9 defeat Saturday and collected three more singles and two walks in a 16-3 victory Sunday.
Jury hit .409 in 13 games last spring, a broken thumb keeping him in the dugout most of the season.
The Rock was pegged to win the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Division title in a pre-season poll of the eight head coaches.
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MEN\’S TRACK AND FIELD
GAMBIER, Ohio – Freshman Ryan Jones of Clearfield debuted for Westminster at the Kenyon Indoor Classic Saturday, placing eighth in the 800-meter run and running the second leg for the 4×400 relay team that finished fifth in 3:39.37.
He ran the 800 in 2:07:14 for a strong showing in the field of 28 runners from eight schools.
