TYR Invitational, Day Three

EVANSTON, Illinois, November 21. NORTHWESTERN earned three more NCAA `B' consideration times Sunday
at the TYR Invitational in the Norris Aquatics Center, bringing its three-day total
during the meet to seven while cruising to a dominating team victory in the
five-team field.

The Wildcats compiled 1,155 points in the meet. Cleveland State took second with 807
points, NCAA Division III superpower Kenyon was third with 665.5 points, UIC took
fourth with 505 points and North Dakota was fifth with 459.5 points.

Individually, Northwestern swimmers took each of the top six spots for high
individual scorer, led by Sean Mathews' 93 points. Charlie Rimkus was right on his
heels with 91 points.

Following this weekend's TYR Invitational, several Wildcats have placed themselves
firmly in the top-10 in the nation in individual events according to
Collegeswimming.com's most recent top times listings. Mathews is up there in the 200
fly, both Alex Tyler and Rimkus are top-5 in the 400 IM and Tyler also is top-5 in
the 200 IM.

Northwestern now is off from collegiate competition until its winter training trip
at the conclusion of fall quarter.

Preliminary portion of Sunday's action:

Northwestern began the day by earning one scoring lane in each of the championship
and consolation finals of the 50 fly. Mathews swam a 22.97 to take third overall
following the morning session while Nathan Butler was 11th overall with a 23.74.
Ross McAuliffe was the top entrant to the bonus final after a morning time of 24.25
while Brien Gerber (24.77) and Alex Ratajczyk (24.86) took 22nd and 23rd,
respectively, to also earn bonu final lanes.

Varun Shivakumar cruised to an easy first-place finish during the prelims of the 200
back, winning by more than three full seconds with a 1:51.29. Fellow Wildcats Jan
Hanulik (1:55.93) and Jake Vogel (1:56.19) were fast enough to claim the final two
championship heat spots by finishing seventh and eighth, respectively. Vogel's time
was .03 of a second ahead of the ninth-place qualifier.

Daniel Salovesh qualified 16th overall to take the last consolation final slot with
a 2:02.56 in the 200 back.

Dominik Cubelic took third overall in the 100 free qualifying with a 46.06 while
Ratajczyk's 46.43 was good for fifth to give NU two championship heat entrants.
McAuliffe (11th overall; 47.27) and John Frutiger (13th overall; 47.40) earned
consolation final berths while Matt Wilcox was just .05 of second shy of joining
that pair with a 17th-place overall time of 47.68.

Both Tyler and Nathan Butler eased into the 200 breast `A' heat by finishing fourth
and fifth, respectively. Tyler had a 2:09.27 while Butler went 2:09.93. NU's two
other entries in the event swam their way into the consolation final, with Brien
Gerber finishing ninth in 2:13.86 and Tim Smith coming in 14th in 2:22.21.

The 50 back only had 11 total entries from among the entire field, with six of them
coming from Northwestern. Cubelic led the way with a first-place 23.64 to lead a
contingent of Vogel, Shivakumar and Mac Anthony into the `A' final while Wilcox and
Chase Stephens were ninth and 10th, respectively, to earn consolation final lanes.

Rimkus, Peter Park Mathews were 3-4-5 in the prelims of the 200 fly while Tony
Mattar (10th) and Tyler (14th) earned consolation final berths. Hanulik (18th) and
Frutiger (24th) received second-swim opportunities in the bonus heat after their
morning times.

Finals portion of Sunday's action:

During the morning preliminary heats, the divers took to the Norris Aquatics Center
5-meter platform to compete in their third event of the TYR Invitational. Tanner
Nemkov won the competition for Northwestern with a 233.85.

Mathews raced to the finish to win the 50 fly by .05 of second in 22.36, cutting .61
of a second from his morning effort. McAuliffe, who earned a consolation final spot
after another competitor scratch, took advantage to move all the way up to 10th with
a 23.62. Butler ended up 12th with a 23.74. In the bonus final, Ratajczyk cut more
than a full second from his prelim time — impressive for a 50-yard event — to win
the heat and take 17th overall in 23.81. Gerber swam a 24.38 to end up 19th.

Shivakumar dropped more than three seconds from his seed time to easily win the 200
back by 4.42 seconds with a season-best 1:48.07 over teammate Hanulik's second-place
1:52.49, which represented a nearly 3.5 second cut and a rise from seventh after the
prelims. Also jumping post-prelims was Vogel, who moved from eighth to fourth with a
1:53.48. Salovesh moved from the 16th place qualifier in the consolation final to
12th overall with a 1:58.35, going more than four seconds faster in the afternoon
than he did in the morning.

Cubelic was second in the 100 free with a 45.39 while Ratajczyk took fourth in
46.05, but the big swim came from McAuliffe in the consolation final. The freshman
cut a full second to win the heat in 46.23. Frutiger placed 11th overall with a
47.52 while Wilcox held on to his 17th-place seed with a 46.95 win in the bonus
heat.

In the men's 1,650 free, Rimkus earned an NCAA `B' consideration time of 15:30.95,
but came in second in the race to a Cleveland State swimmer. Rimkus was the lone NU
entry in the event.

Tyler raced to a 3.84-second win in the 200 breast with a 2:02.14, dropping a
whopping 7.13 seconds from his prelim time. Butler was fourth in 2:07.66 while
Gerber, who earned his way into the `A' heat after a scratch, took eighth in
2:13.74. Smith was 13th overall after cutting nearly three seconds from morning to
afternoon with a 2:19.42.

Cubelic led a 1-2-3 sweep of the 50 back for Northwestern with a 23.23 for a .75 of
a second win over teammate Vogel's 23.98. Shivakumar came in third with a 24.22
after out-touching two competitors for the spot by .02 and .08 of a second. Wilcox
won the consolation final in 26.10, .77 of a second faster than his morning swim,
while Stephens was 10th in 26.29 — a 1.22 second drop in time from his prelim swim.

Mathews blazed to a season-best and NCAA `B' cut time of 1:46.78 to win the 200 fly
by nearly four seconds over his nearest collegiate competition, which was teammate
Park in third with a 1:50.63. After swimming the mile just minutes earlier, Rimkus
came in eighth with a 1:53.30.

Tyler and Mattar finished 1-2 in the consolation final with times of 1:51.18 and
1:51.33, respectively, besting the nearest competition by 2.63 seconds. Hanulik made
it three wins in three heats in the event for NU with a 1:53.89 to take the bonus
final by 3.93 seconds.

In the final 400 free relay, Northwestern's team of Ratajczyk, Cubelic, McAuliffe
and Tyler swam to an easy victory in NCAA `B' style with a season-best time of
3:00.87.

Northwestern cruised to a dominant victory Sunday during the final
day of its three-day TYR Invitational at the Norris Aquatics Center, finishing first
among the six-team field and ending the day with an exciting come-from-behind NCAA
`B' qualifying standard win in the 400 free relay.

The Wildcats totaled 1,495 points, finishing well ahead of second-place Iowa State's
803. Cleveland State was third with 562.5, North Dakota took fourth with 463, Kenyon
was fifth with 356 points and UIC took sixth with 215.5.

Individually, Iowa State's Alice Sommerville earned high point honors with 99.5
points, followed by Northwestern's Kathleen Patterson with 92.50 points.

Northwestern now is off from collegiate competition until its winter training trip
at the conclusion of the fall quarter.

Preliminary portion of Sunday's action:

Sunday began with the 50 fly, and Alex Kraus picked up right where she left off
following her win the 100 fly Saturday. Kraus' time of 25.36 paced the field and
earned her top billing in Sunday afternoon's championship final alongside Marybeth
Hall (sixth in 26.19) and Meghan Cavanaugh (tied for seventh in 26.22).

Katie Eschenburg narrowly missed out on the 50 fly `A' final, finishing .03 of a
second behind Cavanaugh with a 26.25, giving herself the top seed in the consolation
final. Shelby Johnson came in 13th overall with a 26.52 while Taylor Reynolds was
14th in 26.53. Katie McCullough won a second swim opportunity in the bonus heat with
a 23rd place time of 26.99.

Liza Engstrom won the 200 back preliminary heats by almost a full second with a
2:01.73 to lead a four Wildcat contingent into the championship heat. Meaghan Fenn
claimed fifth with a 2:06.29, Jacquie Godbe placed sixth in 2:06.79 and Erin Reilly
picked up the final spot with an eighth-place 2:07.54.

Jackie Powell was the lone Wildcat to earn a consolation final berth with a
15th-place 2:09.96 while Erin Sosdian picked up a bonus final bid with an 18th-place
2:11.11.

Six Wildcats comprised the top eight qualifiers in the 100 free, led by Taylor
Reynolds' first-place 51.61. The rest of the NU reps were: Powell (second place;
52.12), Hall (third place; 52.16), Ellen Grigg (fourth place; 52.22), Meredith King
(seventh place; 52.67) and Katie McCullough (eighth place; 52.83). Johnson earned
her second consolation final berth of the day with a 13th place time of 53.38 while
both Fallon Fitzpatrick (19th; 53.67) and Sheila O'Neill (20th; 52.68) won bonus
final lanes.

Northwestern earned the top-four qualification spots in the 200 breast for the
second-straight event, paced by Jenny Wilson's 2:20.18. Patterson was second with a
2:20.89, Hannah Points was third in 2:21.02 and Megan Goss earned a fourth-place
finish with a 2:21.58. Russart made it five Wildcats in the `A' final with a
2:23.32.

Fenn made the 200 breast consolation final by qualifying 12th in 2:25.32 while
Soderholm's 2:30.18 was good for a second swim in the bonus heat.

Engstrom, Reilly and Eschenburg were NU's lone entries in the 50 back, and all three
made it through to the championship final. Engstrom placed second with a 27.33,
Reilly was third in 27.67 and Eschenburg took fifth with a 27.99.

Kraus added a preliminary win in the 200 fly to her earlier 50 fly first-place
morning effort with a 2:03.85. Points (third place; 2:05.05), King (fourth place;
2:05.13), Cavanaugh (sixth place; 2:06.02) and Patterson (eighth place; 2:07.03)
gave NU five swimmers among the top eight.

Soderholm took ninth to earn lane four in the consolation final with a 2:07.43.
Fitzpatrick (2:09.34) and O'Neill (2:09.52) joined Soderholm in the consolation heat
after both made the bonus final in the 100 free.

Finals portion of Sunday's action:

While the morning preliminary swimming heats were taking place, the divers took to
the Norris Aquatics Center 5-meter platform to compete in their third event of the
TYR Invitational. Felicitas Lenz and Carlin Dacey went 2-3 for the Wildcats,
compiling scores of 224.55 and 215.40, respectively.

The last timed final of the 1,650 free began Sunday's finals session, and Goss
narrowly missed an NCAA `B' cut by .54 of second with her winning time of 16:41.58.
Behind Goss, the Wildcats captured four of the top five spots in the event. Erin
Sosdian was second with a 16:45.80, Grigg took fourth in 17:02.91 and Beth Loe's
17:03.60 was good for fifth. Also scoring for NU was Kate Stephensen in seventh
place with a 17:27.67.

Kraus ended up second in the 50 fly following a 25.35 performance Sunday afternoon.
Hall took fourth with a 25.73 and Cavanaugh placed seventh in 26.18. Eschenburg won
the consolation final in the event with a 25.87 while Reynolds was 11th overall in
26.28 and Johnson took 15th in 26.65.

Engstrom cut nearly a full second in the 200 back finals to take second overall in
2:00.76 while Fenn was fourth in 2:05.63 and Godbe took fifth in 2:06.03. Sosdian
dropped time like a champ in the consolation final, swimming to a 2:06.47 to cut
more than 4.5 seconds from her prelim swim and win the `B' heat. Sosdian made the
most of her opportunity in that heat after qualifying 18th overall for the bonus
final, but moving up to the `B' heat following several scratches.

Powell powered her way to a win the 100 free to lead a 1-2 Northwestern finish. Her
time of 50.52 defeated second-place teammate Reynolds' 51.22. After two non-NU
swimmers, Wildcats rounded out the field in the championship heat. King took fifth
in 52.37, Hall was sixth in 52.56, Grigg came in seventh in 52.59 and McCullough was
eighth with a 52.65.

In the 100 free consolation final, Johnson took 11th in 53.03 before O'Neill jumped
from 20th to 17th with a win in the bonus final, cutting more than a full second to
swim a 52.57.

Wilson led a 1-2-3-4 sweep of the 200 breast for the Wildcats, finishing in 2:18.76
to win. Behind her was a trio of tightly grouped Wildcats all within .46 of a
second. Patterson claimed second in 2:19.32, Points was third in 2:19.73 and Russart
captured fourth in 2:19.78. Goss rounded out NUs championship final in the event
with an eighth-place 2:24.15. Fenn also garnered points for the `Cats by taking 13th
in the consolation final with a 2:24.58.

In a hotly contested 50 back, Iowa State's Sarah Norris barely edged Engstrom by .07
of a second to win the event. Engstrom swam a 26.79, followed by Eschenburg (27.30)
in third and Reilly (27.74) tied for fourth.

King won the 200 fly with a season-best 2:02.71 followed by Points' 2:03.05 in
second. Kraus (2:04.30) captured fifth for NU, Cavanaugh (2:05.96) was sixth and
Patterson (2:06.52) took eighth.

In the consolation final of the 200 fly, Soderholm won by 4.57 seconds after
dropping 3.30 seconds from morning to afternoon with a 2:04.13. O'Neill (2:09.31)
placed 12th and Fitzpatrick (2:10.74) was 14th for the Wildcats.

Northwestern concluded the meet with an exciting win in the 400 free relay, getting
an NCAA `B' cut time of 3:24.47 while emerging victorious in the race by a mere .04
of a second over Cleveland State. The team of Powell, Engstrom, Hall and Reynolds
comprised the relay for the Wildcats. Cleveland State held a commanding .99 of a
second advantage entering the final 50 yards, but much to the deafening delight of
the packed Norris Aquatics Center, Reynolds swam a final 26.29 split to reel in the
Vikings and give the Wildcats the win.

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.

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