Northwestern, Wisconsin Split

EVANSTON, Illinois, November 10. NO. 7 Northwestern men's swimming nearly swept Wisconsin out of the Norris Aquatic Center, winning every single swimming event except for the last event of the meet, the 400 freestyle relay, en route to a 142-97 victory on Friday night. Meanwhile, Northwestern's women fought hard and nearly pulled off the upset, but No. 19 Wisconsin prevailed 129-114.

In men's action, senior Mike Alexandrov (Champaign, Ill./Centennial) and reigning Big Ten Swimmer of the Week Eric Nilsson (Weston, Mass./Weston) led the way for the 'Cats, claiming victory in three different events throughout the meet.

After the 'Cats claimed the 200 medley relay victory, Alexandrov jumped out to an early lead in the 1000 free and held off all challengers, winning with a time of 9:33.50.

Alexandrov came from behind in his next event, the 200 IM, using an excellent breast-stroke leg to move in front and finish with a time of 1:51.99. The senior capped off the night by dominating the field in the 200 breast, finishing nearly seven seconds ahead of his closest competitor.

Not to be outdone, Nilsson followed Alexandrov's first victory with a win of his own in the 200 free. Nilsson's time of 1:38.88 was 2.28 seconds faster than the second-place finisher.

Nilsson's second victory came in the 200 fly, and he finished his day with an impressive time of 4:30.92 in the 500 free to claim his third and final event.

Matt Grevers (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) also took home a pair of victories for the Wildcats, winning the 50 free with a time of 20.23 and clocking a time of 1:46.78 in the 200 back to finish first.

Bruno Barbic (Zagreb, Croatia/V. Gimnazija) won the closest individual event of the meet, edging out a Wisconsin swimmer in the 100 free with a time of 45.37.

With the result of the meet not in doubt, Wisconsin claimed its first victory of the match in the final event, the 400 freestyle relay.

In the women's meet, Andrea Hupman (Lawrenceville, Ga./Brookwood) and Kassia Shishkoff (Raleigh, N.C./St. David's School) once again led the way for the Wildcats, each winning two events.

After Northwestern's "A" team finished second in the 200 medley relay, Shishkoff pulled away after the first 250 yards in the 1000 free, winning the event by over 11 seconds with a time of 9:54.22.

In a sign of things to come, Hupman won the next event for the 'Cats, the 200 free. Hupman's winning time of 1:49.61 was only .56 seconds off of the pool record and meeting the NCAA "B" standard.

Emily Wong (Nepean, Ontario/St. Joseph's) continued her strong freshman campaign, finishing second in the 50 free after touching the wall with a time of 23.67.

Following the first break in the meet, freshman Rachel Rys (Goleta, Calif./Dos Pueblos) busted out to win the first event of her collegiate career. Rys controlled the action in the 200 fly, never trailing while posting a time of 2:01.51.

Hupman then came through with her second win of the meet, but this time she also broke her own pool record. Hupman's blistering time of 49.99 in the 100 free bested her own pool record of 50.12 and was also an NCAA "B" time.

Hupman was not the only one to break a Norris Aquatics Center pool record. Wisconsin's Yi Ting Siow swam a time of 2:11.91 in the 200 breast to beat former NU swimmer Amy Balcerzak's time of 2:12.34 set in 2000.

Two events after Hupman's victory, Shishkoff claimed her second long-distance event of the afternoon, swimming an NCAA "B" time of 4:52.76 in the 500 free.

In diving, Beth Campbell (Burr Ridge, Ill./Fenwick) provided the Wildcats with some much needed points, winning the 1-meter competition with a 267.08 score and finishing second in the 3-meter board with a score of 262.13.

Even though they were trailing, the 'Cats closed out the meet on a positive note, coming from behind to win the 400 freestyle relay (3:26.33).

With the loss the 'Cats are now 0-4 on the season, but three of the losses have come to opponents ranked in the top 20.

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