Minnesota Posts Four Wins in B1G Triple Dual Meet

Photo Courtesy: Minnesota Athletics

MINNEAPOLIS – The Minnesota swimming and diving teams each picked up wins over Purdue and Northwestern on Saturday afternoon as the three teams concluded the two-day B1G Triple Dual meet at the University Aquatic Center in Minneapolis.

On the women’s side, Minnesota beat Northwestern (259-88) and Purdue (232.5-116.5), while Purdue topped Northwestern (206-134). In the men’s meet, the Gophers came out ahead 250-103 against Northwestern and 196.5-156.5 against Purdue. Purdue also beat Northwestern, 219-134.

Minnesota Press Release

After two days of competition the Golden Gophers came out on top over the Purdue Boilermakers and Northwestern Wildcats.

The Golden Gophers began day two against Purdue and Northwestern on a high-note, winning both the men’s and women’s 200 freestyle relays.

Becca Weiland, Lauren Votava, Blake Zeiger and Danielle Nack combined for a 1:32.76 to take first in the women’s 200 freestyle relay. Minnesota also placed third in the event, with Heidi Busack, Allison Schumacher, Tori Simenec and Abigail Raatz finishing with a time of 1:33.44.

The 200 free relay team of Daryl Turner, Paul Fair, Ian Gordon and Ryan Miksch placed first with a time of 1:21.27. The Minnesota “B” relay finished fourth with a time of 1:23.74.

In the women’s 400 IM, freshman Brooke Zeiger took home a first-place finish with a time of 4:19.10. Sophomore Breanne Siwicki had a 4:26.34 for fifth place.

Sophomore Jakub Maly posted a 3:56.93 in the men’s 400 IM for second place. Gopher Andrew Hartbarger placed fourth with a time of 3:58.04.

Becca Weiland finished first in the women’s 100 freestyle with a time of 50.25. Teammate Lauren Votava followed for second with a 50.40 in the event.

In the men’s 100 freestyle, sophomore Paul Fair powered his way to a first-place finish with a 44.99. Freshman Michael Nunan placed third with a 45.75.

Brooke Zeiger finished second in the women’s 200 backstroke, finishing with a time of 2:01.77. Katelyn Holmquist followed for third with a 2:02.91.

Carl Newenhouse (1:48.18) and Chris Johnson (1:49.91) placed third and fourth in the men’s 200 backstroke.

Senior Tori Simenec led the way in the women’s 100 butterfly. Simenec finished first with a time of 55.01 and was followed by teammate Danielle Nack (55.20) for second.

Daryl Turner picked up another first-place finish in the men’s 100 butterfly. Turner finished with a time of 47.95, a body-length ahead of the field. Nick Orf placed sixth with a time of 50.56.

Kiera Janzen took home first in the women’s 500 freestyle, finishing with a time of 4:47.86. Fellow senior Jessica Plant took third with a 4:50.06 in the event.

CJ Smith finished with a 4:28.43 in the men’s 500 free for first. Freshman Michael Nunan followed for second place with a time of 4:33.02.

In the women’s 200 breast, Kierra Smith picked up her fourth first-place finish on the weekend. Smith had a 2:12.68. Freshman Rae Bullinger placed eighth with a 2:23.65.

Sophomore Spencer Mattox placed second in the men’s 200 breast with a time of 2:00.64. Freshman Conner McHugh had a 2:01.36 for third.

Lauren Votava, Becca Weiland, Jessica Plant and Tori Simenec placed first in the women’s 400 free relay with a 3:22.84. Minnesota’s “B” relay placed third with a time of 3:25.08.

The relay team of Daryl Turner, Paul Fair, Ryan Miksch and Michael Nunan placed first in the men’s 400 free relay with a time of 2:59.80.

On the men’s three-meter diving board, Matt Barnard finished third with a total of 366.35 points. Dylan Zoe (362.45) and Manny Pollard (339.85) followed for fourth and fifth.

Yu Zhou posted 287.70 points on the women’s platform for second place. Lexi Tenenbaum (277.00) finished third, with freshman Elizabeth Etterman placing fourth with 256.40 points.

Purdue Press Release

Two more individual event victories for Guillermo Blanco along with a sweep of the diving events contested Saturday highlighted the second and final day of competition for the Purdue swimming and diving teams at the Big Ten Triple Duals.

In the team scoring, the Boilermakers closed out a pair of dual victories against Northwestern, but came out on the wrong end vs. host Minnesota. The Purdue men trailed by 11 points entering the day but ended up losing to the No. 23 Gophers, 196.5-156.5.

Led by Blanco’s four event victories over the two days, the Boilermakers won 10 events for the weekend. Steele Johnson swept the men’s diving events after adding a 3-meter victory Saturday to his platform win from Friday.

Johnson and Jamie Bissett finished 1-2 in 3-meter diving. Johnson posted a team season-best score of 464.40 to improve on his second-best mark in program history. MacKenzie Tweardy was the only non-Minnesota diver to compete in women’s platform diving Saturday, but still managed to win the event with a team season-best score of 318.90. She has won on 10-meter each of the last two weekends.

Blanco was victorious in the 200 backstroke and 400 IM Saturday, adding those winning performances to his event victories in the 200 freestyle and 200 butterfly. The senior’s time of 3:53.60 in the 400 IM was a personal season best.

Marat Amaltdinov won the 200 breaststroke Saturday to round out the list of Purdue victories. The freshman took third in 100 breast Friday. In November, Amaltdinov established a new team freshman record in the 200 breast at Minnesota’s University Aquatic Center.

Along with Bissett, individual second-place finishers for Purdue Saturday included Kaersten Meitz (500 free), Nika Karlina Petric (400 IM) and Stephen Seliskar (100 fly). Seliskar also contributed to the men’s 200 free relay team that finished second with a Purdue season-best time of 1:21.70. Austin Flager, Evan Barta and Adam Johnston rounded out the quartet.

Meagan Lim (100 fly and 400 IM), Allie Davis (100 and 500 free) and Petric (400 IM and 500 free) joined Blanco as Boilers to post a pair of top five individual finishes Saturday. Lim was Purdue’s top finisher in the 100 fly.

The Purdue men finished their season with a 5-2 dual meet record. The No. 16 Purdue women went 5-3 in duals this season. Both teams will now turn their focus towards the Big Ten Championships. However, selected swimmers will compete for the women at the Ohio State Winter Invite (Feb. 14-15) and the men at the Michigan First Chance meet (Feb. 21-22) prior to Big Tens.

Northwestern Women’s Press Release

On the final day of the final dual meet of 2014-15, Northwestern got an NCAA `B’ cut and won a majority of the events against one of its ranked Big Ten opponents Saturday at Minnesota’s University Aquatic Center.

In the team race, the Wildcats fell to the No. 16 Boilermakers, 206-134, and the No. 19 Golden Gophers, 259-88, after two days of an extended meet program. Of the eight events held Saturday in which Northwestern had representation (NU is without its divers at the moment), the Wildcats defeated the Boilermakers five times.

Northwestern concludes its dual-meet season with a 7-6 overall record, 2-4 against Big Ten competition. Four of its losses came versus ranked opponents — all of them against conference foes — while NU also had one victory on the year against a top-25 team, that coming last week at then-No. 21 Iowa.

Northwestern’s `A’ 200 free relay opened Day Two Saturday with a good showing, sandwiching itself between two Minnesota squads with a second-place 1:33.03 from the team of Mary Warren (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead), Julia Pratt (Vincennes, Ind./Vincennes Rivet), Anna Keane (Edmonds, Wash./Meadowdale) and Annika Winsnes (Singapore/United World College). That time was just .27 of a second behind Minnesota’s winning team and featured a 22.70 final 50 free by Winsnes which was the lone split in the entire race to go sub-23.00.

NU’s `B’ team of senior Valerie Nubbe (Huntsville, Ala./Huntsville), Aja Malone (Acworth, Ga./Allatoona), Katherine Senseman (Terra Haute, Ind./Terre Haute South Vigo) and Maddy Sims (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove) touched in fourth place overall in front of both Purdue entries to give the Wildcats a 1-2 sweep of the Boilers.

Sophomore Ellen Stello (Shorewood, Wis./Shorewood) took third overall behind one Gopher and one Boiler in the 400 IM followed by Lauren Abruzzo (Denver, Colo./Kent Denver) in sixth overall, handing Northwestern a 2-4 event result versus both opponents.

Winsnes gave NU another win over Purdue in the 100 free with a third-place time of 50.73 behind two Minnesota entries. Warren was in seventh overall via a 51.23.

One day after winning the 100 back in strong fashion, sophomore Lacey Locke (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) captured the 200 back in extremely strong fashion. Locke swam an NCAA `B’ cut of 1:58.67 that gave her more than a three-second margin of victory against Minnesota’s Brooke Zeiger, the next closest competitor.

Teammate Melissa Postoll (Acworth, Ga./Kennesaw Mountain) earned a 2:02.95 in the 200 back to place fourth for the Wildcats behind two Minnesotans, giving Northwestern a top-two sweep over the Boilers.

Malone was NU’s top finisher in the 100 fly with a seventh-place result, then Megan Purdy (Boulder City, Nev./Boulder City) led the Wildcats in the 500 free with the same placing.

In the 200 breast, Minnesota’s Kierra Smith ran away from the pack by over six seconds to leave the rest of the field to battle over second. Julianne Kurke (Atlanta, Ga./Parkview) won that fight with a second-place 2:18.70 while Georgie Pettibone (Santa Rosa, Calif./Analy) took fifth in 2:21.63.

The Wildcats relay teams finished Saturday like they started it with a strong showing in the 400 free relay. The team of Warren, Keane, Malone and Winsnes swam a 3:24.98 to take second place between two Golden Gophers relays.

Northwestern now has two weeks off until the Big Ten Championships Feb. 18-21 in Columbus, Ohio.

Northwestern Men’s Press Release

Northwestern concluded its final dual meet of 2014-15 prior to the Big Ten Championships, falling to No. 23 Minnesota, 250-103, and Purdue, 219-134, Saturday following a two-day program at the Gophers’ University Aquatic Center.

Northwestern concludes the dual-meet season with a 7-6 overall record, 0-5 against Big Ten opponents. Five of NU’s six losses, including four of the five B1G defeats, came at the hands of ranked foes. The Wildcats spent time themselves in the top-25 this year when they were ranked No. 21 in the nation in one fall edition of the CSCAA coaches poll.

The Wildcats finished a narrow third in the 200 free relay to begin Saturday’s schedule, getting a 1:21.91 from Almog Olshtein (Haifa, Israel/Haifa), Andy Jovanovic (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy), Gage Kohner (Boca Raton, Fla./Boca Raton Community) and Uula Auren (Helsinki, Finland/Mäkelänrinteen Lukio). NU touched behind first-place Minnesota and second-place Purdue after the Boilermakers came from the back of the pack in the final leg to best the Wildcats by .21 of a second.

In the first individual event, sophomore Jonathan Lieberman (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie) was NU’s top finisher with a 400 IM time of 4:06.62 to place eighth overall.

One day after winning the 50 free by the slimmest of possible margins, Olshtein took second in the 100 free against Minnesota’s Paul Fair. Olshtein’s time of 45.59 was followed by another Gopher, then teammate Jovanovic in fourth place with a 45.77 that gave the Wildcats a 1-2 sweep of Purdue in the race.

Freshman Alex Snarksi (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) went out super fast in the 200 back and nearly held on until the end, eventually ceding the top spot to Purdue’s Guillermo Barco by .37 of a second with a 1:47.78. Grant Halsall (Laxey, Isle of Man, GBR) placed fifth overall behind him with a 1:50.94.

Senior Mark Ferguson (Perth, Australia/John XXIII) finished third overall behind one Minnesotan and one Purdue swimmer with a 49.63 in the 100 fly. He missed out on second by seven one-hundredths of a second after swimming a 13.06 final 25 yards that was the fastest in the pool by .18 of a second. Nick Petersen (Thiensville, Wis./Homestead) was fifth overall and Jack Morris (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) was seventh for NU.

Jordan Wilimovsky (Malibu, Calif./Malibu) led Northwestern in the 500 free with a fifth-place 4:35.14, then Van Donkersgoed (Eden Prairie, Minn./Minnehaha Academy) was ninth in the 200 breast.

In diving action Saturday, senior John Andrade (Avon, Conn./Notre Dame) led Northwestern with a seventh-place 328.00 on the 3-meter springboard.

The meet concluded with the 400 free relay Saturday afternoon. Northwestern’s team of Jovanovic, Olshtein, Kohner and Ferguson placed second overall behind Minnesota with a 3:02.78.

Northwestern now has three weeks off until the 2015 Big Ten Championships Feb. 25-28 hosted by Iowa.

Northwestern, Purdue vs. Minnesota Dual Meet – Results

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