Northwestern vs. Notre Dame Women

EVANSTON, Illinois, January 11. NO. 21 Northwestern held off No. 24 Notre Dame with a thrilling victory in the final relay of a double-dual meet Saturday at the Norris Aquatics Center, also defeating the University of Toledo in the two-session event.

Trailing by four points heading into the 400 free relay, Northwestern needed a victory in the event to win the meet against its ranked opponent. Emily Wong (Nepean, Ontario/St. Joseph's) got the Wildcats out to a huge lead with a 50.61 leadoff leg, giving the Wildcats a nearly two second cushion. Shelby Johnson (Wayzata, Minn./Wayzata) largely maintained NU's advantage before Teisha Lightbourne (Nassau, Bahamas/Peddie School (N.J.)) swam a 52.04 third leg against Notre Dame's Amy Prestinario, whose 51.41 closed the gap.

Kassia Shishkoff (Raleigh, N.C./St. David's School) swam the anchor for the Wildcats against Notre Dame's Amywren Miller, who came out fast with a 23.61 opening 50. With the swimmers coming off the final turn nearly even and the crowd in the Norris Aquatics Center at a deafening level, Shishkoff crept ahead to finish the relay in 3:24.40 to defeat Notre Dame's 3:24.77 and give the Wildcats a five-point win in the meet.

Northwestern (8-2) also defeated Toledo (3-5), 255-86, while Notre Dame (3-1) downed UT, 268-83.

The meet took place in two parts, with the morning events starting at 10 a.m. and the afternoon races beginning at 5 p.m.

During the morning session, Northwestern kicked things off with a second-place finish in the 400 medley relay. The team of Liza Engstrom (Reno, Nev./Robert McQueen), Jenny Wilson (Bethesda, Md./Sidwell Friends School), Stacy Congdon (Windermere, Fla./Lake Highland Prep) and Wong swam a time of 3:47.46 to fall just short of Notre Dame's winning 3:47.24. Wong was able to cut the NU deficit in the race in half during her anchor leg, but the Irish's Miller held off the hard-charging Wong for the victory.

Shishkoff ran away from the field to win the 500 free, besting her nearest competition by nearly six full seconds with a 4:51.64. Jenn Kocsis (Omaha, Neb./Marian) followed a pair of Notre Dame swimmers to take fourth place with a 4:58.42.

Northwestern captured first, third and fourth place in the 100 free, with Wong out-touching Notre Dame's Miller by .04 of a second to win with a time of 51.41. Johnson took third with a 52.28 while Lightbourne was just behind her in fourth with a 52.36.

Sophomore Erin Reilly (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) also had a good effort in the 100 free, turning in a season-best time of 52.61 in an exhibition swim that would have tied her for fifth in the race standings.

Notre Dame won the 200 breaststroke but Wilson and Hannah Points (Tualatin, Ore./Tualatin) were second and third for NU, respectively. Wilson swam a 2:18.09 and Points finished in 2:20.14.

In the 100 fly, Notre Dame again took the top spot but the Wildcats swept positions two-through-four. Congdon swam a 57.04 to take second, Alex Kraus (Birmingham, Ala./Birmingham Groves) was third in 57.75 and Katie Eschenburg (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) was .02 of a second behind Kraus. Both Kraus and Eschenburg led a pack of four swimmers tightly bunched within .10 of a second of each other, with Eschenburg out-touching Toledo's Amanda Thompson by .01.

Following a 10-minute mid-session break in the action, Genny Szymanski (Haines, Alaska/Haines) took home the 200 back with a 2:00.76. Engstrom was third in 2:04.84 for the Wildcats.

Shishkoff won her second event of the morning again in runaway fashion, capturing the 400 IM by nearly six seconds with a 4:17.37. The effort was her best time of the year in the event and fell just .15 of a second short of an NCAA `B' provisional qualifying time.

Points followed Shishkoff in second with a 4:23.27 while Kathleen Patterson (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) was fourth with a 4:27.64.

Northwestern concluded the morning session with a win in the 200 free relay. The team of Lightbourne, Johnson, Reilly and Wong swam a Wildcats' season-best time of 1:33.63 to take an 87-61 advantage over the ranked Irish into the night swims.

In the kickoff of the evening swims, the team of Engstrom, Wilson, Congdon and Wong held off Notre Dame by .26 of a second for a win the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:44.04. After Engstrom got the Wildcats out to a half-second lead with a 26.91 backstroke leg, Congdon's butterfly split of 24.84 was the best in the pool to give NU an insurmountable lead.

In the 200 fly, Shishkoff came in second for the 'Cats with a 2:01.62 while Points was third in 2:02.93.

Notre Dame closed the score by sweeping the top two positions in the 200 free, while Toledo also scored a win versus the Wildcats when Laura Heckroth was third overall. Kocsis was NU's top finisher in the event with a 1:53.17 to take fourth place.

The Irish got their third individual win in a row to start the second session with a victory in the 100 breast. Samantha Maxwell was .04 of a second away from a `B' cut with her winning time of 1:02.42 while Wilson finished behind her for the Wildcats with a 1:04.28.

While Notre Dame again won the event with a 23.30 from Miller in the 50 free, Northwestern took the next three spots to keep the points close. Wong was second with a 23.37, Johnson took third with a 23.78 and Lightbourne finished fourth with a 24.00.

Engstrom finished strong in the 100 back to get Northwestern back on the winning track, getting to the wall just ahead of her Notre Dame competition with a 57.02. In the 1,650 free, Notre Dame pushed into the lead against Northwestern with a second-place overall finish. Kocsis was third overall for the Wildcats with a 17:00.22. Toledo won its first event of the meet when Jacy Dyer clocked a 16:45.56 to win the mile.

Shishkoff won her third event of the meet with a season-best 2:01.53 in the 200 IM. Points ended up third in the race with a 2:05.68 to help Northwestern close the gap against ND to four points, 169-165, heading into the final relay.

Both diving events were held during the evening session with Notre Dame sweeping the top three scoring spots on both the 1-meter and 3-meter boards to help the Irish with their evening comeback.

Special thanks to Northwestern for contributing this report.

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