Purdue v. Northwestern

EVANSTON, Illinois. November 7. The No. 20 Northwestern women won all but four events — two swimming and two diving in a combined meet against Purdue at the Norris Aquatics Center, coming away with a 177-118 victory over the Boilermakers to move to 1-1 on the young season.

Northwestern got the meet off to a great start in the 200 medley relay, taking both first and second place. The team of Liza Engstrom , Hayley Fry, Katie Eschenburg and Teisha Lightbourne took first in 1:44.35.

The Wildcats' second-place team of Genny Szymanski, Jenny Wilson, Stacy Congdon and Shelby Johnson swam a time of 1:45.19.

In the 1,000 free, junior Kassia Shishkoff ran away with the victory, falling just .41 of a second shy of an 11-year-old Norris Aquatics Center pool record. Shishkoff swam a 9:52.71 to win by almost 12 full seconds. Jenn Kocsis took third in 10:06.56 for the 'Cats.

Emily Wong came away with a half-second victory in the 200 free for Northwestern, swimming a time of 1:51.48. Meghan Cavanaugh was third with a 1:53.55 to out-touch Purdue's fourth-place swimmer by .08 of a second.

Purdue won its first event of the meet in the 100 back, but Eschenburg (56.68) and Szymanski (56.72) were second and third, respectively, for NU.

Wilson then charged to more than a full-second win in the 100 breast, steaming ahead with a 29.79 opening 50 and never looking back. Fry took second for the 'Cats with a 1:04.49.

Shishkoff won her second event of the evening with a 2:01.66 in the 200 fly, while freshman Hannah Points took third in 2:04.36. Wong's second event win came in the 50 free with a time of 23.67. Lightbourne was third in 23.80.

Wong made it three victories in the meet with a win in the 100 free following the first break, swimming a 51.67. Szymanski blew away the field in the 200 back, turning a 2:00.74 into a 2.5-second winning margin. Engstrom took third in the swim for the Wildcats with a 2:05.35.

Wilson pulled away from her second impressive win in a breaststroke event, taking the 200 by 2.3 seconds with a 2:18.31. Fry came in second with a 2:20.61, while Kathleen Patterson was third in 2:23.09.

In the 500 free, Kocsis battled it out with Purdue's Lauren Roth for the entire race, holding a slight lead until the final 50 yards when Roth overtook her for a .25 of a second victory. Kocsis' second-place time was 4:57.45, while Ellen Grigg was third in 5:04.29 and Beth Loe was fourth with a 5:04.96.

Eschenburg followed with a win in the 100 fly, going 56.07 to best the field by more than a second. Congdon was second with a 57.14 and Cavanaugh completed a 1-2-3 sweep for the 'Cats with a 57.72.

Following the meet's second break, Shishkoff joined Wong as a three-time winner in the meet. The junior swam a 2:03.15 to win the 200 IM by nearly five seconds over teammate Patterson, who held off a charging Allie Smith from Purdue by .03 of a second with a time of 2:07.91.

NU closed out the meet with a win in the 200 free relay, getting a time of 1:34.59 from the team of Lightbourne, Engstrom, Wong and Shishkoff.

Northwestern men won six events but fell to the Boilermakers, 176-122. The Wildcats now are 0-2 on the season after facing a pair of ranked foes to begin the year.

Northwestern fought to out-touch Purdue for second place in the 200 medley relay to begin the meet. Jake Vogel, John Franklin, Brian Kerr and Truman Liang swam a 1:33.38 to finish just ahead of the Boilermakers' `B' squad, which had a 1:33.55.

In the 1,000 free, Peter Park was NU's top finisher with a 9:35.48 to take third place.

Senior Eric Nilsson then captured the 200 free with a 1:38.07 before Adam Beckman was the Wildcats' top finisher in the 100 back with a third-place time of 51.32.

Alex Tyler and Nathan Butler combined to take third and fourth in the 100 breast, with Tyler turning in a 58.73 and Butler contributing a 58.83.

Nilsson won his second event of the evening with a razor-thin .02 of a second victory in the 200 fly, swimming a 1:49.88 to out-touch Purdue's Sam Wilcher. Sean Mathews was third with a 1:52.82. Liang then took third in the 50 free as NU's top finisher with a 21.29.

Following the break Liang again was NU's best swimmer with a third-place effort, this time with a 47.23 in the 100 free.

Beckman followed with one of the more impressive wins in the meet, capturing the 200 back by more than four full seconds with a time of 1:50.35. Beckman went out hard and pulled away with a 27.26 second 50 yards, 1.5 seconds faster than his nearest competitor in that leg.

In the 200 breast, Tyler took second for the 'Cats with a 2:07.52, then Nilsson's third victory of the meet followed with a 4:33.11 in the 500 free. Park was third for NU with a 4:38.42.

In the 100 fly, Mathews was NU's top finisher with a 50.49 to end up fourth.

In diving action, Purdue swept the 1-meter board but senior Alex Kiaie won the 3-meter board with a 329.48, bettering his own season-best from two weeks ago at Indiana that qualified him for NCAA Zones.

The Wildcats came out after the second diving break and swept the top three spots in the 200 IM with Tyler taking first in 1:54.52, Beckman earning second with a 1:55.59 and Park capturing third in 1:56.43.

NU closed out the meet with a second-place finish in the 200 free relay, going 1:25.40 to hold off Purdue's `B' squad by .13 of a second.

Also of note during the meet were a pair of exhibition swims from 2007 graduate, 2007 NCAA 100 breast national champion and two-time Olympian Mike Alexandrov. During the breaks, Alexandrov swam both the 100 and 200 breast, breaking his own pool record in the 100 with a 53.21.

Special thanks to Northwestern for contributing this report.

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