Hoosier Men Wear Down Ranked Big Ten Foe, Northwestern, 179-129

BLOOMINGTON, IN, November 7. THE No. 13 Indiana men's swimming and diving squad moved its dual-meet record to 4-1 this season and 1-0 in the Big Ten with its fourth consecutive triumph, per school reports.

Indiana claimed the 179-129 triumph over the No. 14 Northwestern Wildcats on Nov. 5 in the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center in Bloomington, Ind., by winning eight out of the 16 events on the strength of three wins for junior Sergey Fesenko and a diving sweep by senior Marc Carlton. Additionally, Carlton demolished the Indiana standard for a dual-meet platform performance.

Northwestern got three individual wins apiece from Matt Grevers and Mike Alexandrov, but IU’s depth proved overwhelming to the Wildcats.

"The meet went pretty much as expected for us," Head Coach Ray Looze said. "I believe we just went against the best dual-meet squad in the country in Northwestern. Today was similar to a Mike Tyson fight from the late 80s, we just had to survive the first few rounds. They threw most of their best swimmers at us early and ran out of gas by the end. Our team is really built for the conference meet and our depth won out. We really swam well today."

In the first event of the meet, Northwestern moved up to an 11-6 lead in the 200-yard medley relay as Matt Grevers, Mike Alexandrov, Kyle Bubolz and Ben Dexter won the event in 1:29.51. Freshman Ben Hesen, junior Kevin Swander, sophomore Kyle Ruth and sophomore Colin Russell came in second with a 1:29.63, which is the fifth fastest time in program history. IU junior Mike Jones, junior Thomas Clavier, senior Murph Halasz and senior David Winck picked up third with a 1:33.43.

In the initial individual event of the evening, IU countered to take a 20-16 lead in the 1,000-yard freestyle as Fesenko captured the title in 9:17.11, which is the sixth-fastest time in the school's annals. NU's Brian Davis finished in second in 9:23.21, while IU freshman Alex Brunfeldt claimed third place in a 9:26.31 and senior Richard Bryant took fourth in a 9:29.03. Daniel Walls concluded team scoring in the event with a sixth-place 9:45.07 for Northwestern.

In the 200-yard freestyle, Indiana responded to retake a 28-27 lead as Grevers won the event in 1:37.50. Freshman Todd Patrick took second in a personal-best 1:38.41, while NU's Matt Wever placed third with a 1:39.88. Russell finished in fourth for IU in 1:40.25, while freshman John Kevin Koehler took fifth in a career-low 1:43.51. In the event, Grevers and Patrick both posted NCAA provisional qualifying times.

IU battled back to take a 39-35 lead in the 100-yard backstroke on the strength of Hesen's personal-best time of 49.92 to win the event title. NU's Bubolz took second with a 50.82, while junior Mike Jones finished in third with a 52.07.

Northwestern went on the attack in the 100-yard breaststroke to jump ahead of IU, 47-46, as Alexandrov won the title in 54.27. IU's Swander took second in 55.30. Both times cleared the NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the event. NU's Louis Torres placed third with a 56.59 clocking. Also of note, freshman Ronnie Hehn posted a career-low 1:00.63 for sixth place.

Indiana dropped the hammer in the 200-yard butterfly to take a 61-51 lead with a top-two sweep when Fesenko touched in first with a 1:50.38 and Halasz took second in 1:51.89. Northwestern rounded out the top three with Brian Davis' 1:51.91.

The Hoosiers stretched their lead to 75-56 with another sweep of the first two spots of the 50-yard freestyle. Russell recorded a first-place 20.78, while Ruth took second in 20.88. NU's Bubolz took third with a 20.94 clocking. Additionally, sophomore Ryan Millard registered a personal-best 22.14 in a non-scoring effort.

The Wildcats chipped the IU lead to 82-68 in the 100-yard freestyle when Grevers captured another crown in 45.23. Patrick took second in a career-best 45.62, while NU's David Kormushoff finished in third in 46.49. Once again, Millard notched a personal-best 48.50 in a non-scoring performance.

Grevers made it back-to-back titles with a 1:48.32 in the 200-yard backstroke to close the gape to 91-78. IU's Hesen (1:51.59), Jones (1:52.06) and Jensen (1:52.66) took the next three scoring spots, while Jensen's time was a personal record.

Northwestern made it a meet in the 200-yard breaststroke when Alexandrov clocked an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 1:59.32 to win the event. IU's Swander took second in 2:02.99, while NU's Torres finished third in 2:03.66. Also of note, Hehn took seventh with a career-low 2:13.38.

Indiana responded in the 500-yard freestyle to move its lead to 109-98 with Fesenko's third title of the day. The Ukrainian clocked a first-place 4:31.35 to beat NU's Wever (4:32.79) to the wall. Northwestern also claimed third with Davis's 4:32.87. Additionally, freshman Jeff Chambers swam a career-low 4:44.61 in a non-scoring effort.

IU pushed its lead to 118-108 with a sweep of second through fourth place in the 100-yard butterfly when Clavier (49.68), Tanner (50.81) and Halasz (51.26) finished behind first-place Bubolz's clocking of 49.63.

Northwestern threatened in the 200-yard IM as the IU lead shrunk to 125-120. Alexandrov finished in first with a 1:50.37, while IU's Patrick took second in 1:53.91. Davis took third for NU in 1:54.74.

Indiana closed out the swimming portion of the event by taking the top two places in the 200-yard medley relay. Ruth, Russell, Patrick and Houchin claimed the crown in 1:21.96, while Winck, Clavier, senior Brian Ellsworth and sophomore Drew Ossakow finished in second in 1:24.39. NU's Kormushoff, Wever, Dexter and Jimmy Sourbeer wound up in third in 1:24.96. Overall, IU finished ahead of Northwestern, 140-122, in the swimming events.

The three-meter springboard and platform events witnessed an incredible amount of execution as seven NCAA zone qualifying marks were posted and one IU record went down. Carlton won the 3m title with a 366.97, while junior Ryan Fagan took second with a career-high 327.90. Both marks cleared the zone cut standard for the event. IU senior Alex Burns took third with a 297.37, while freshman Will Bohonyi notched a personal-best 168.60 in a non-scoring effort. After the event, IU was ahead in the meet, 156-125.

Carlton completed his diving dominance on the tower in front of an astonished crowd. The Webster, N.Y., native shattered the IU dual-meet mark by more than 150 points with a 460.50 string of dives to win the title. Fagan took second with a 336.37, while NU's Mike Oxman finished in third with a 331.35. Burns took fourth with a 315.15, while NU's Ryan McIntosh placed fifth with a 302.32. All marks were above the NCAA zone qualifying mark. The incredible effort closed out IU's 171-129 conquest of the Wildcats.

"We did a little better than our last meet and that is always good to see," Head Diving Coach Dr. Jeff Huber said. "Marc Carlton wasn't bad. He has been sick this week and his experience came through by setting the school record on the platform."

Next up, the Hoosiers host the Indiana Invitational Nov. 19-21 at the Counsilman-Billingsley Aquatic Center in Bloomington, Ind.

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