Northwestern vs. Iowa

IOWA CITY, Iowa, January 22. NORTHWESTERN entered a Saturday dual meet at Iowa fired up — perhaps a little too fired up at the start, in fact — before sweeping away the Hawkeyes in a 191.5-104.5 victory at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center.

The Wildcats spotted the Hawkeyes a quick 15-0 lead after all three NU entries in the 200 medley relay were disqualified for early jumps at some point during the race.

Northwestern recovered immediately from the early relay misstep, sweeping the top three spots in the 1,000 free. Freshman Megan Goss (Brentwood, Tenn./Ravenwood) was first with a 10:12.80, Jacquie Godbe (Rapid City, S.D./Stevens) placed second in a season-best 10:15.76 and Ellen Grigg (Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Latin School) came in third in 10:23.11.

Freshman Jackie Powell (Madison, Wis./James Madison Memorial) then came out and ran away from the field to win the 200 free in 1:51.74. Erin Sosdian (The Woodlands, Texas/Woodlands College Park) took third in 1:53.88 and Sheila O'Neill (Dunwoody, Ga./Marist School) claimed fourth to give the Wildcats a 1-3-4 finish and allow NU to jump into a 30-23 lead, which would only grow bigger as the afternoon progressed.

Liza Engstrom (Reno, Nev./Robert McQueen) took second in the 100 back as NU's top finisher with a 57.04, then Jenny Wilson (Bethesda, Md./Sidwell Friends School) pulled away from an Iowa foe at the end of the 100 breast to win in 1:04.14. Kathleen Patterson (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) was third in the 100 breast with a 1:05.50 to give the Wildcats a 1-3 finish.

Northwestern continued to dominate, sweeping the top four positions in the 200 fly (though only three scorers are allowed to count per team per event in dual meets). Hannah Points (Tualatin, Ore./Tualatin) led the way in 2:04.43, followed by Meredith King (Louisville, Ky./duPont Manual) in second with a 2:05.40, Meghan Cavanaugh (Anchorage, Alaska/East Anchorage) in third with a 2:05.77 and Alex Kraus (Birmingham, Ala./Vestavia Hills) in fourth with a 2:06.40.

The Wildcats then put an exclamation point on the first half of the meet with a 1-2 finish in the 50 free. Taylor Reynolds (St. Louis, Mo./Webster Groves) blazed to a 23.49 to win while Marybeth Hall's (Brighton, Mich./Brighton) 23.75 was good for second-place points.

On the 3-meter springboard during diving competition, Felicitas Lenz (Altadena, Calif./Polytechnic School) split a pair of Iowa divers to take second place with a score of 317.40. All three competitors were within 3.9 points of each other in the final tally.

After the mid-meet break, Northwestern got right back to work with a 1-2 sweep of the 100 free. Powell's 51.52 was good for the win while Reynolds placed second in 51.93. Engstrom then recorded a massive victory in the 200 back, swimming a 2:01.54 to win by 3.70 seconds over her nearest Iowa competition. Meaghan Fenn (New Rochelle, N.Y./The Ursuline School) was third in 2:05.66 while Godbe swam her second season-best time of the meet with a fourth-place 2:05.88 to give NU a 1-3-4 finish in the event.

The next four events were all top-three sweeps for the Wildcats, with two of them coming as part of top-four sweeps. Wilson led a 1-2-3 finish in the 200 breast with a 2:18.96 followed by Patterson (2:19.99) in second and Points (2:20.21) in third. In the 500 free, King's 5:02.46 was the top time in a 1-2-3-4 NU result, with Powell (5:03.81), Grigg (5:04.15) and Beth Loe (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington) (5:06.17) following right behind.

In the 100 fly, Hall paced the field with a 56.81 followed by Cavanaugh's 56.86, Kraus' 58.01 and Katie Eschenburg's (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) 58.44. And finally, in the 200 IM, Godbe's 2:05.38 was good for first place followed by Points in second with a 2:06.49 and Patterson in third with a 2:06.50.

During the meet's second break, Lenz won the 1-meter board with a 285.53 for NU.

In the final 400 free relay, NU's team of Powell, Hall, Engstrom and Reynolds swam a time of 3:26.59 to place first, but the Wildcats exhibitioned all of their squads in the event to make the final score 191.5-104.5.

Northwestern returns to action Jan. 28-29 at the multi-team Shamrock Invitational hosted by Notre Dame.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World reserves the right to choose what material is posted.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x