No. 8 Northwestern Wins Dallas Morning News Classic, Defeating No. 3 California

DALLAS, Texas, January 13. IN an early preview of what the Big Ten and NCAA Championships could hold, No. 8 Northwestern defeated No. 3 California and host Southern Methodist University to win the star-studded Dallas Morning News Swimming and Diving Classic.

The Wildcats led the field with 359 points, besting the Bears' total of 334. SMU was third with 305 points.

No. 10 Florida State finished in fourth with 131 points after competing on day one, but not on day two. The Seminoles — who swam at LSU early Friday and then drove to Dallas for Friday night's DMN Classic events — were in fourth place following the first day's action.

Northwestern began day two's action 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 Bruno Barbic (Zagreb, Croatia/V. Gymnazija) comprised the relay that swam an NCAA 'B' cut of 1:26.97 to defeat second-place California by more than two seconds.

Sophomore Eric Nilsson (Weston, Mass./Weston) opened the individual action with a second-place finish in the 500 free, swimming an NCAA 'B' time of 4:26.69. Cal's Dominik Meichtry won the event with a pool and meet record time of 4:19.26, also an NCAA 'A' standard time.

Jon Ehret (Phoenix, Ariz./Brophy College Prep) took third in the consolation final, swimming a 4:40.31.

In the 200 breast, Alexandrov set a pool record with an NCAA 'B' time of 1:57.07 to win for the 'Cats. John Franklin (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./North Broward Prep) won the consolation final for the 'Cats with a 2:02.44.

Disaster struck for Cal when Richard Hunter was DQed out of the championship heat in the 200 breast, giving Northwestern a commanding lead in the meet, 244-219.

In the 200 back, Grevers broke his third meet and pool records with an NCAA 'A' cut of 1:41.55 to beat Cal's David Russell by almost three full seconds. In the consolation final, Adam Beckman (Kearney, Neb./Kearney) took second with a 1:49.47.

Diver Alex Kiaie (Milwaukee, Wis./Nicolet) scored a personal-best 336.55 on the 3-meter board to finish third for Northwestern.

In the 100 free, Bubolz turned in a season-best and NCAA 'B' cut time of 44.01 to win the championship heat. Barbic swam the consolation final, ending up third with a 45.55.

In the 200 fly, Nilsson took second in the championship heat with an NCAA 'B' standard time of 1:47.79. Ehret was second in the consolation heat with a 1:53.28.

Alexandrov broke pool and meet records in the 200 IM with an NCAA 'B' time of 1:47.13 to win the event. Beckman took third in the consolation final with a 1:54.35.

The Wildcats put an emphatic stamp on their Classic victory with a meet- and pool-record NCAA 'A' time of 1:19.74 to win the 200 free relay. Grevers, Nilsson, Bubolz and Barbic comprised the relay. Grevers' leadoff 50 time of 19.82 was a season-best for the senior.

Northwestern returns to dual-meet action at 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 20 at Notre Dame.

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