UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio – The Notre Dame College swimming and diving team took the short trip over to neighboring John Carroll University for a dual meet on Friday evening. A well-rounded John Carroll team got the best of Notre Dame, as the NDC men lost 177-85 and the NDC women fell 158-104.
 
Despite the loss, Notre Dame showed some bright spots with a handful of event victories. Hannah Berlin claimed the first individual event by winning the 1000-yard freestyle by more than 30 seconds. Berlin swam a 11:12.49 which blew past JCU's Lauren Spence who touched the wall in second at 11:43.57. Berlin's victory was the first of seven individual events that the NDC women's team won, as Notre Dame and John Carroll split the women's individual events evenly, by winning seven apiece.
 
Abrielle Junge followed up Berlin with a victory in the next event, by swimming a 2:04.54 to narrowly best JCU's Ashley Lynch by 0.16 seconds in the 200-yard backstroke.
 
The Notre Dame women's team continued their strong swimming by winning their third individual event in as many tries when Emily Thomas followed suit by claiming the 50-yard backstroke at a time of 28.86.
 
The NDC men's team started to gain momentum when Abram Hagedorn jumped in the water and was crowned the 50-yard backstroke winner at a time of 24.67.
 
Jaybreona Foster tallied the fourth straight event win for the Falcons in the 50-yard breaststroke by swimming at a time of 33.59.
 
Ashton Smith swam a 48.13 to win the 100-yard freestyle for Notre Dame to stop the John Carroll run, as the Blue Streaks claimed the previous six events. E. Thomas continued the momentum for the Falcons in the next event by generating another victory, this time in 100-yard backstroke (1:02.26).
 
After the win by E. Thomas, Foster and Berlin would continue their pursuit of excellence with wins in the 100-yard breaststroke and 500-yard freestyle, respectively. Foster swam a 1:12.60 and Berlin touched at 5:34.40 to post nine points each for the NDC women's team.
 
The Falcons wrapped up their time in University Heights with a victory in the final event of the evening when Hagedorn, Smith, Lorcan Kelleher and Roan Kelleher polished off the 200-yard freestyle relay at a time of 1:29.26, a mere 0.3 seconds faster than JCU.
 
The Notre Dame College swimming and diving team will have a month-long hiatus over the holiday season as the Falcons will not be in the pool until the new year. NDC will travel to Fairmont State on Saturday Jan. 15 at 1 p.m. for their next competition.