Canes to Battle Irish, Purdue & Rutgers in South Bend
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Miami swimming & diving team opens ACC action this weekend for a quad meet with host Notre Dame, and will be joined by Purdue and Rutgers at the Rolfs Aquatic Center.
Action is set to begin at 5 p.m. ET Friday.
The Hurricanes have been working hard in training since finishing up their trip to Dallas and the SMU Classic Oct. 15.
“We’re so excited about the whole thing, in many different aspects,” head swimming coach Andy Kershaw said. “From a competition standpoint, we’ve faced Rutgers the last two years and that’s always a great matchup against them. I know they’re going to bring it. With Notre Dame, it’s another tough opponent for us and a team that finished just ahead of us at the ACC Championships – they’re someone we’ve got our eyes on, always looking ahead. As far as Purdue, we don’t have a lot of experience, but it’s another great program and another great team.
“There are a lot of different dynamics with all four teams going against each other at the same time, and it’s all really exciting on that end.”
Miami emerged with a 180.5-118.5 victory in its dual meet with the Scarlet Knights last season.
For the first time this season, the Hurricanes diving contingent will also be competing in the quad meet.
“This is really our first diving meet, so it’s going to be a good test,” head diving coach Randy Ableman said. “We’re definitely in a training phase right now, and just starting to put our dives together. It’s a long season. We’re looking to peak in December at US Nationals and in March at NCAA’s.”
Ableman is looking forward to watching one of his star pupils, men’s diver Briadam Herrera, take on competition from Purdue, considered among the top men’s diving teams this season.
“Briadam is a very good competitor, and I look for him to really challenge those guys, even though it’s at the very beginning of the season,” Ableman said. “He’s definitely better than he was last year, and he’s not going to be in peak performance, he has been training right through this…I think it’s a good challenge. I’m looking forward to him showing us the improvements he made, and we’ll be happy.”
Miami won its lone dual meet of the season on Oct. 1, routing crosstown foe FIU 161-101 at the Whitten University Center Pool. After facing off against Michigan, Louisville, USC and others at the SMU Classic, Kershaw said his team is excited for the opportunity to battle Friday.
“At SMU, one of the things we learned is we want to be very competitive, but we want to do it as a team having a lot of fun together – not just trying to take it on as an individual thing,” Kershaw said. “The great thing about this trip is we’re all together in both spirit and body, every single person in the program is here and that’s an important part.”
But for the Hurricanes, who check in at No. 42 in the CollegeSwimming.com team rankings, tough competition continues with the Irish (ranked No. 10), Purdue (No. 34) and Rutgers.
Among Miami’s top contributors at the SMU Classic were veterans Julie Suarez and Angela Algee. But Kershaw thinks the experience provided to some of the team’s younger student-athletes, including Iliana Oikonmou and Manon Viguier, will help the team gain overall success over the course of the season.
“Notre Dame threw down some great times in their last competition, no question about it. We’re going in as the underdogs, and we’re good with that,” Kershaw said. “We’re going to take that on and enjoy that challenge.”
Following its quad meet at Notre Dame, Miami has a quick turnaround for a home meet against Princeton on Nov. 4. The Miami swimmers will then travel to the NC State Invite (Nov. 17-19) while divers take part at the IUPUI Invite in Indianapolis (Nov. 18-20).
