No. 6 Northwestern Drops No. 12 Michigan, No. 13 Ohio State to Finish Perfect Season

COLUMBUS, Ohio, January 27. NO. 6 Northwestern established four pool records Saturday afternoon at the McCorkle Aquatics Center to finish off emphatic victories against No. 12 Michigan and No. 13 Ohio State in a two-day double-dual meet. The victory over Michigan was Northwestern's first since 1927.

After entering day two with leads over both of their opponents, the Wildcats bested the Wolverines, 189.5-144.5, and dropped the Buckeyes, 185.5-148.5. With the wins, Northwestern finishes the dual-meet season with a perfect 8-0 record. Five of those victories came over ranked opponents.

The win over Michigan was especially historic in that it snapped a couple of UM streaks. The loss was the Wolverines' first in its last 39 Big Ten dual meets dating back to 1999. Northwestern's win over UM was its first in the last 33 meetings between the schools.

Northwestern led off the second day of competition with a win in the 200 medley relay. Matt Grevers (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest), Mike Alexandrov (Champaign, Ill./Centennial), Kyle Bubolz (Waukesha, Wis./Waukesha North) and Jon Ehret (Phoenix, Ariz./Brophy College Prep) swam an NCAA 'B' time of 1:27.86 to win the event.

Sophomore Eric Nilsson (Weston, Mass./Weston) then broke the pool record in the 500 free, winning the event with a 'B' cut of 4:23.27. Junior Daniel Walls (Tucson, Ariz./Sabino) was seventh for NU.

Grevers then captured the 200 IM with a 'B' time of 1:46.79, winning the event by nearly three seconds. Sophomore Adam Beckman (Kearney, Neb./Kearney) came in sixth for NU with a 1:51.84.

Bubolz made it four event wins in a row for the 'Cats with a 'B' time of 47.74 to win the 100 fly. Ehret took seventh and freshman Chris Doman (Pittsburgh, Pa./St. Charles Prep (Ohio)) was eighth for NU.

Grevers came back after the diving break to swim an 'A' cut of 47.14 to win the 100 back, breaking the McCorkle pool record in the process. Freshman Jake Vogel (Canton, Ill./Canton) captured fifth for Northwestern with a 50.90, while Beckman tied for seventh.

Bubolz and Bruno Barbic (Zagreb, Croatia/V. Gymnazija) swept the top two positions in the 100 free, with both breaking the existing pool record with 'B' cuts. Bubolz's first-place time of 44.40 is the new record, while Barbic was just .09 seconds behind with a 44.49.

Alexandrov then blazed to a more than 2.5 second win in the 100 breast, swimming an 'A' cut of 53.14 to establish yet another pool record for NU. John Franklin (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./North Broward Prep) took fourth for the 'Cats with a 56.54, while Alex Hostoffer (Cleveland, Ohio/Gilmour Academy) was sixth with a 57.28.

In the 400 free relay, the Wildcat team of Nilsson, Barbic, Beckman and Jimmy Sourbeer (Des Moines, Iowa/Dowling Catholic) finished third after a swim of 3:02.38.

In diving, Ryan McIntosh (Louisville, Ky./Trinity) took fifth on the 3-meter board, while Alex Kiaie (Milwaukee, Wis./Nicolet) was sixth.

Northwestern returns to action Feb. 15-17 at the Big Ten Championships in Columbus.

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