TYR Invitational: Day One

EVANSTON, Illinois, November 19. HELPED by its first two NCAA consideration times of the season and
propelled by a wildly deep team performance in the 200 IM, Northwestern jumped out
to a big lead Friday at the Norris Aquatics Center after the first day of
competition at its own five-team TYR Invitational.

NU scored 354 points Friday, building a 140-point edge on second-place Cleveland
State’s 214. North Dakota is third with 176.5, Kenyon College is fourth with 166.5
and UIC is fifth with 134.

The three-day TYR Invitational continues tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 20, with
preliminary heats at 9 a.m. CT and finals at 6 p.m. CT. Sunday’s final day features
a 9 a.m. CT preliminary session with 3 p.m. CT finals in the afternoon.

Preliminary portion of Friday’s action:

In the first event of the 2010 TYR Invitational, former Northwestern NCAA champion
and two-time Olympian Mike Alexandrov swam unattached and defeated the field in the
50 breast to qualify first overall for the finals. The top collegiate entry also was
a Wildcat, with Nathan Butler swimming a 26.36 to come in second overall.

Brien Gerber earned a scoring lane with a 13th place overall finish in 28.34 while
Mac Anthony also snuck into the consolation final with a 16th-place time of 28.82.
Tim Smith picked up a second-swim in the bonus final with a 30.19 to take 22nd
overall.

Peter Park’s then-season-best 4:31.90 won the 500 free prelims to lead a
four-Wildcat contingent in the championship final. Charlie Rimkus was third overall
with a 4:35.44, John Frutiger came in fourth in 4:36.23 and Jan Hanulik rounded out
the NU `A’ heat swarm with a fifth-place 4:37.70.

Tony Mattar (4:47.38) and Chase Stephens (4:47.46) both snuck into the consolation
final by placing 15th and 16th, respectively, to pick up scoring opportunities for
the Wildcats. Varun Shivakumar’s 20th place 4:48.52 won him a second swim in the
bonus final of the 500 free.

Next came the 200 IM, which Northwestern absolutely dominated in the morning.
Alexandrov won the prelim heats and Wildcats won six of the other seven lanes held
by collegiate entries. Alex Tyler’s 1:52.28 was good for second overall followed by
Hanulik (1:54.14) in third, Sean Mathews (1:54.25) in fourth, Rimkus (1:54.47) in
fifth, Park (1:55.73) in seventh and senior Jake Vogel (1:55.94) in eighth.

Mattar and Gerber both made the consolation final for the second time Friday night
with their preliminary swims in the 200 IM. Mattar was 12th overall in 1:57.04 and
Gerber took 15th in 1:58.37. Again Shivakumar picked up a bonus final lane, this
time being joined by John Frutiger. Shivakumar swam a 1:59.10 to take 19th and
Frutiger was 21st in 1:59.71.

Contrasting the sheer Wildcat-ness of the 200 IM was the 50 free, which saw
Alexander Ratajczyk earn the lone NU entry into the championship final. Ratajczyk
swam a then-season-best 21.15 to place seventh overall after the morning session.

Dominik Cubelic was ninth during the preliminary heats with a season-best 21.25 to
earn one of four Wildcat lanes in the consolation heat. Mathews (13th overall;
21.41), Tyler (14th overall; 21.42) and Ross McAuliffe (15th overall; 21.44) joined
Cubelic in that scoring final. Freshman Matt Wilcox picked up a second-swim with a
21.73 to finish 20th overall and earn a bonus final lane.

Finals portion of Friday’s action:

Northwestern got off to a strong start Friday night with a win in the 200 free
relay. The team of Ratajczyk, Mathews, Tyler and Cubelic turned in a season-best
1:22.31 to edge Cleveland State by .30 of a second. Ratajczyk earned a slim lead for
NU with a season-best 50-free time of 20.97 in the leadoff position, but the
Wildcats actually trailed in the race heading into the anchor leg. Cubelic ripped
off a 20.19 split to chase down CSU’s Alex Lewis (20.56) to earn top points for the
`Cats.

While the individual swimming finals were held, Nick Pinkerton led the Northwestern
effort on the 3-meter springboard to take third place overall in the only diving
event held Friday. Pinkerton scored a 269.15 for NU.

Alexandrov’s 24.36 easily won the 50 breast, with Butler cutting .04 of a second off
his preliminary time but falling from the second seed to fourth-place overall for
the Wildcats. The big story in the 50 breast for NU Friday night was written by
Anthony, who surged from 16th after the preliminary heats all the way to 10th
overall during the consolation final, dropping 1.18 seconds to turn in a 27.64.
Gerber took 15th with a 28.46 Friday night. Smith cut time in his bonus final swim,
moving up a spot to place 21st after a 29.76.

In the championship final of the 500 free, Rimkus blazed to a more-than-10-second
improvement to win in NCAA `B’ consideration fashion with a season-best 4:24.77. The
effort was NU’s first NCAA cut time of the 2010-11 season. His more-than-four-second
victory paced a Wildcat squad which earned four of the top-five spots in the event.
Park’s season-best 4:31.60 took third overall while Frutiger was fourth in 4:33.96
and Hanulik placed fifth in 4:35.06.

Mattar, who was 15th overall after the morning swim, came back to swim 12.28 seconds
faster and win the consolation final with a season-best 4:35.10. Stephens also
improved dramatically, turning his 16th-place slot into an 11th-place overall finish
by cutting almost nine full seconds from his preliminary time to turn in a 4:38.57.
Shivakumar joined the Wildcats making dramatic drops in time with a
more-than-10-second cut in the bonus final, winning the heat and taking 17th overall
with a 4:37.96.

In the 200 IM finals, Tyler smoked the field and defeated the two-time Olympian
Alexandrov by more than a second with an NU-season-best and NCAA `B’ provisional
qualifying standard of 1:46.57. After Alexandrov’s second-place time, it was all
Wildcats in places third-through-seventh with every `Cat cutting time from his
morning effort.

Mathews (1:50.35) was third, Rimkus (1:52.66) took fourth, Hanulik (1:53.58) came in
fifth, Vogel (1:54.51) placed sixth and Park (1:55.65) turned in a seventh-place
effort for NU to complete the 200 IM championship final. In the consolation heat,
Mattar moved up from 12th to 10th overall with a 1:55.34 at night while Gerber
jumped from 15th to 12th with a 1:57.63. Shivakumar again put on a show in the bonus
final, winning by 3.7 seconds when he cut 4.10 seconds from his preliminary swim to
turn in a 17th-place overall time of 1:55.00 — a time which would have take second
place in the consolation heat.

Ratajczyk jumped three spots to finish fourth overall in the 50 free after a 21.08
in the championship heat. Cubelic raced to a consolation-final winning time of
20.84, easily his best effort of the season and a time that would have placed him
second overall in the entire field. McAuliffe took third in the consolation final
and 11th overall with a season-best 21.08. Also scoring points for NU in the event
were Mathews (21.59) in 15th and Tyler (22.04) in 16th.

Freshman Wilcox shot up from 20th to 17th place overall after a 21.40 to win the
bonus final for Northwestern.

The Wildcats put an exclamation point on the opening day of the TYR with a more-than
five second victory in the 400 medley relay. The team of Cubelic, Tyler, Mathews and
Ratajczyk put up a season-best 3:19.27 to capture that crown.

Northwestern opened a big advantage over its competition Friday
following the first day of the six-team TYR Invitational at the Norris Aquatics
Center, placing multiple swimmers in every championship heat including four in the
200 IM and five in the 50 free.

NU totaled 446 points, 237 more than its nearest competitor. Iowa State is second
with 209 points, Cleveland State is third with 195, North Dakota is fourth with 127,
Kenyon is fifth with 101 and UIC is sixth with 77.

The three-day TYR Invitational continues tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 20, with
preliminary heats at 9 a.m. CT and finals at 6 p.m. CT. Sunday’s final day features
a 9 a.m. CT preliminary session with 3 p.m. CT finals in the afternoon.

Preliminary portion of Friday’s action:

Kathleen Patterson and Jenny Wilson both earned spots in the championship final of
the first event of the Invitational, the 50 breast. Patterson qualified fourth
overall in 30.33 while Wilson was seventh in 30.46

Headlining the entries in the consolation final of the event was Katie McCullough,
whose 30.96 placed her ninth overall following morning competition. Joining her in
the `B’ scoring final were NU’s Emily Russart (12th overall; 31.18) and Marybeth
Hall (13th overall; 21.19). Megan Goss picked up a second-swim opportunity with a
32.17, which placed her 23rd overall and in the bonus final in the evening session.

Senior Ellen Grigg got off to a phenomenal start in the final TYR Invitational of
her career, winning the preliminary heats of the 500 free by nearly three full
seconds with a then-Northwestern-season-best 4:53.76. She was joined in the
championship final by Alex Kraus (5:03.17) and Beth Loe (5:03.41), who qualified
sixth and seventh, respectively.

Goss made the consolation final of the 500 free with a 5:05.13 to qualify 10th while
teammates Erin Sosdian (13th overall; 5:07.40) and Caroline Walls (15th overall;
5:08.51) also picked up spots in the scoring `B’ final while Fallon Fitzpatrick,
Meghan Cavanaugh and Kate Stephensen earned second-swim opportunities in the `C’
bonus final by placing 22nd, 23rd and 24th overall in preliminary action.

Patterson picked up her second `A’ final slot of the day by taking second overall
with a season-best 2:05.46 in the 200 IM, leading a group of four Wildcats to earn
championship heat lanes in the event. Jacquie Godbe was fourth in 2:06.87, Meredith
King placed sixth in 2:07.63 and Jackie Powell was seventh in 2:07.73.

Two more Wildcats found the consolation finals when Becca Soderholm (13th overall;
2:10.10) and Hannah Points (14th overall; 2:10.22) earned top-16 preliminary
finishes. Meghan Fenn (2:11.52) and Russart (2:11.84) were 17th and 19th overall,
respectively, slotting them in the bonus final for the evening.

Five Wildcats were among the top eight in the 50 free preliminary heats, led by
Taylor Reynolds’ first-place overall and then-season-best 23.44. Shelby Johnson came
in fourth in a then-season-best 23.93, Powell was fifth in 24.07, Alex Kraus took
sixth in 24.09 and Erin Reilly grabbed the final slot in the `A’ heat after a
three-way swimoff. Reilly and two other swimmers tied for seventh at 24.18, then
Reilly and North Dakota’s Devonne Dalin tied again with identical 23.92’s in the
swimoff to both find lanes in the championship heat Friday night.

Grigg (24.20), Hall (24.24) and Liza Engstrom (24.32) all won scoring final spots in
the `B’ heat, while Katie Eschenburg (24.41) picked up a bonus-final entry for the
`Cats.

Finals portion of Friday’s action:

Northwestern won the opening scoring event of the TYR Invitational with a
season-best 1:33.31 in the 200 free relay. The team of Powell, Johnson, Kraus and
Reynolds earned a .69 of a second victory in the event, pulling away for the win
with strong legs from Kraus (23.39) and Reynolds (22.79).

During the finals swimming heats Friday night, the Lenz sisters went 1-2 for
Northwestern while the Wildcats on the whole took four of the top-five spots in the
1-meter diving event. Sophomore Felicitas Lenz scored a Northwestern-season-best
total of 289.05 to win while freshman Cosima Lenz took second with a 277.20. Carlin
Dacey was fourth for NU with a 242.40 and Mary Kate Campbell captured fifth in
241.80.

Patterson cut more than a half-second off her time in the 50 breast to jump from the
fourth seed Friday night to a second-place overall finish in 29.82. Wilson dropped
.45 of a second in her championship final effort, moving from seventh after the
morning session to a fifth-place overall finish in 30.01.

Russart (29.89) and McCullough (30.65) went 1-2 in the consolation final to take
ninth and 10th places overall, while Hall tied for 12th with a 21.99. Coupled with
Goss’ 23rd overall finish with a 32.04, every competing Wildcat dropped more than a
tenth of a second from morning to evening in the 50 breast.

Grigg, a first-team All-American in the 500 free earlier in her career, roared to
Northwestern’s first NCAA consideration time of the 2010-11 season with a `B’ cut of
4:52.05 to win the 500 free by 1.51 seconds. Loe came in third in 4:57.86,
out-touching Kraus’ fourth-place time of 4:57.89 to give NU three of the top-four
finishers in the event.

The Wildcats also took three of the top-four spots in the consolation final, led by
Sosdian’s 4:56.21, a more-than 11 second drop from morning to evening that would
have placed her third in the championship heat. Goss followed in second with an
equally impressive 4:58.12 to cut over seven full seconds from her preliminary time.
Walls jumped from 15th after the preliminary heats to 12th in the finals with a
5:05.29 — a more than three second improvement for the senior.

NU’s top two bonus final entries took top honors in that heat, with Fitzpatrick
cutting more than 7.5 seconds to win the race and take 17th overall in 5:05.04 and
Cavanaugh dropping over six seconds to take second place in the heat and 18th
overall in 5:06.98. Stephensen came in 24th overall with a 5:18.58 Friday night.

Patterson followed her second place effort in the 50 breast with a win in the 200
IM, taking first by .98 of a second with a Northwestern-season-best 2:03.88. Powell
was third overall in 2:06.12, King finished fourth in 2:06.43 and Godbe also cut
time in the finals, though she dropped from fourth to sixth place overall after a
2:06.62.

Soderholm raced to a win in the consolation final of the 200 IM with a 2:06.30, 3.80
seconds faster than her 13th-place morning time. Points took 13th overall with a
2:08.61 Friday night. In the bonus final, Fenn (2:08.87) and Russart (2:09.31) went
1-2 for NU to take 17th and 18th places overall.

Reynolds popped for a Northwestern season-best 23.35 to win the 50 free for the
Wildcats by .04 of a second over a foe from Cleveland State. Powell (23.63) was
third for NU followed by Kraus (23.90) in fifth, Johnson (24.08) in seventh and
Reilly (24.19) in eighth.

After her NCAA consideration time in the 500 free, Grigg showed off her sprint chops
to take ninth overall with a consolation final-winning time of 23.99 in the 50 free
over teammate Hall’s 10th place overall 24.04. Engstrom finished in a dead heat for
12th with a 24.31. In the bonus final, Eschenburg was 20th overall in 24.45.

Northwestern concluded Friday night’s action with a 3.62 second win in the 400
medley relay, getting a season-best time of 3:46.48 from the team of Engstrom,
Russart, Cavanaugh and Powell.

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