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ND SPORTS Swimmer Emma Reaney Headlines Winter Sports Newcomers BY DAN MURPHY 1. EMMA REANEY, SWIMMING College was just the push Irish freshman Emma Reaney needed. Reaney said she hit a plateau dur- ing the last couple seasons of her high school swimming career, but the added intensity and attention to detail in South Bend has led her to a great start on the collegiate level. Reaney set personal best times — numbers that hadn't changed for three or four years — in four different events at the Ohio State Invitational in early December. She smashed the school record (2:00.09) in the 200 individual medley, posting a time of 1:57.67, and also took home first place in the 400 individual medley. That performance earned her Big East Swimmer of the Week honors for the second time in the first two months of the season. Only two other swimmers have won multiple weekly awards in the same season since the conference started handing them out in 2008. "I think she has All-American po- tential in her career at Notre Dame," head coach Brian Barnes said. "She's not just a competitor at the top of the Big East, but a competitor at the national level." Barnes said it really sank in that Reaney had some special skills a month before her record-setting day in Ohio. The Irish were in Louis- ville for a dual meet with the Cardi- nals, and the freshman won all four events in which she raced — the 200 individual medley, the 100 and 200 breaststrokes, and the 400 freestyle relay. "He put me in the outside lane, and I think that was to help me not focus on people and just do my own thing," Reaney said. "I realized maybe I can make a name for myself here." The Lawrence, Kan., native is tip- toeing closer to times that will qual- ify her for the NCAA Championships at the end of the season. She says she can still cut a few seconds off of her times by focusing on the small, tech- nical aspects of her events. Barnes 48 FEBRUARY 2012 Reaney smashed the school record (2:00.09) in the 200-meter individual medley, winning the race in a time of 1:57.67 at the Ohio State Invitational in early December. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS said his budding star is always will- ing to listen to suggestions and try new ways to improve her speed in the pool. He plans to keep pushing her to swim new events as well as get faster in the ones she has already succeeded in. "He's been telling me that right now there's not a limit to how fast I can go," Reaney said. 2. KAILA BARBER, TRACK & FIELD Barber wasted no time establish- ing herself as a force to be reckoned with on the Big East track this sea- son, winning all four of her events in the first indoor meet of the sea- son last month. Barber qualified for the conference meet in the 60-meter hurdles, 400-meter dash and long jump along with running the anchor leg for the winning 4x400-meter re- lay team. She and her twin sister, Jade, who is also on the track team, were both sectional champions in Ohio during high school, and Kaila was the state's Gatorade Female Track Athlete of the Year last spring. Notre Dame coach Joe Piane said she has only gotten better since arriving in South Bend. "She's a team unto herself," Piane said. "She's just a very talented lady that has a lot of God-given talent and is a hard worker." Like Reaney in the pool, Barber has been a quick study in her first few weeks of training. Piane said her ability to make adjustments quickly gives her the potential to be an All- American during her time at Notre Dame. 3. ROBBIE RUSSO, HOCKEY Russo has been an immediate impact player for Notre Dame's defense. He came to Notre Dame straight from the U.S. National Un- der-18 team. A native of the Chicago suburbs, Russo played for the same youth program that has churned out Irish sophomore T.J. Tynan, fellow freshman Austin Wuthrich and four future Notre Dame players. He has played in all 20 games so far this season and leads all Irish de- fensemen with three goals and six assists. "One of the reasons we recruited him was to have a guy who can control the puck at the point," Irish coach Jeff Jackson said at the begin- BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED