Photo Credit: Northwestern Athletics<\/p>\n
YPSILANTI, Michigan, October 16. Alex Snarski won three events Thursday night to lead the Northwestern men’s swimming and diving team to its first win of the season, a 161-139 victory over Eastern Michigan.<\/p>\n
Northwestern’s newcomers, led by a three-win performance by Alex Snarski (Libertyville, Ill.\/Libertyville), helped the Wildcats to a season-opening 161-139 victory over perennial MAC power Eastern Michigan Thursday at the Eagles’ Jones Natatorium.<\/p>\n
Both of Northwestern’s winning relays in the meet had three legs manned by freshmen, and that class also accounted for four individual victories.<\/p>\n
“That’s why we brought them in,” head coach Jarod Schroeder said. “Alex was not far off of his personal bests so we were pretty pleased with his meet.”<\/p>\n
In addition to the freshmen, junior Jordan Wilimovsky (Malibu, Calif.\/Malibu) won a pair of races and had a lifetime best in his third while NU’s two veteran breaststroke specialists split victories in those events.<\/p>\n
“There are still some things we need to work on and we need to get a lot faster for some of our meets later in the fall, but I am proud of the guys for going on the road and racing well in our first time out,” Schroeder said.<\/p>\n
In an early sign of the talent in the class, Schroeder sent three freshmen out in the Wildcats’ `A’ 200 medley relay which won the event in 1:31.51, nearly a half second ahead of the Eagles’ top squad. Snarski went out on fire with the leadoff backstroke leg to build a .71 cushion over EMU, then senior Uula Auren (Helsinki, Finland\/M\u00e4kel\u00e4nrinteen Lukio), freshman Nick Petersen (Thiensville, Wis.\/Homestead) and freshman Almog Olshtein (Haifa, Israel\/Haifa) cruised in for the win.<\/p>\n
Junior U.S. National Team distance swimmer Wilimovsky got his season started in about the fashion one would expect, winning the 1,000 free in 9:14.36 — a full 26.33 seconds ahead of Eastern Michigan’s second-place finisher. Wilimovsky split high 27s and low 28s for the entire race while his competitors rarely got below 29:00 for each 50-yard segment.<\/p>\n
Freshman Jonathan Blansfield (Westport, Conn.\/Staples) took fourth for NU in the 1,000 to earn a pair of points.<\/p>\n
The Eagles won the 200 free for their first event victory of the meet, but the Wildcats mitigated the damage with Charlie Cole (Bernardsville, N.J.\/Bernards), Jonathan Lieberman (Eden Prairie, Minn.\/Eden Prairie) and Jack Morris (Lansdale, Pa.\/North Penn) taking second through fourth, respectively.<\/p>\n
Snarski continued to showcase his promise in the 100 backstroke, winning by nearly a full second over sophomore Andy Jovanovic (Chicago, Ill.\/Loyola Academy), who was runner-up in the event for a 1-2 Northwestern finish. Snarski’s 49.75 in the race would have nearly made the cut for inclusion on NU’s final top times list of last season.<\/p>\n
Auren turned a narrow lead at the 50-yard mark in the 100 breast into a comfortable cushion at the wall to win that event in 56.94 over a trio of EMU swimmers behind him.<\/p>\n
In the 200 fly, Eastern Michigan got the win over second-place Wilimovsky, but the Wildcat made a statement of a swim. His time of 1:51.98 would have been the fastest for Northwestern all of last season by .56 of a second and lowered his own collegiate-best in the event by a whopping 2.51 seconds. He previously swam a 1:54.49 against Iowa last January.<\/p>\n
“I told Jordan to take it a little easy in the 1,000 since he was going again 10 minutes later in the 200 fly, but he told me `no coach the 1,000 will be a good warm-up’,” Schroeder said. Wilimovsky would have a little bit longer rest before going on to win the 500 free later in the meet.<\/p>\n
Olshtein gave Northwestern a commanding 74-57 lead going into the first diving break with a 20.90 to win the 50 free by five one-hundredths of a second over Eastern Michigan’s Brian Moore. Olshtein’s 20.90 would have ranked fifth-fastest on the NU team all of last year. Fellow freshman Gage Kohner (Boca Raton, Fla.\/Boca Raton Community) took third in 21.23.<\/p>\n
Eastern Michigan’s Jordan Lesser, who earned All-America status at Minnesota in 2014, won the 3-meter diving board with a 345.08. NU’s Andrew Cramer (Indianapolis, Ind.\/Cathedral) took second in 332.40 while John Andrade (Avon, Conn.\/Notre Dame) and Reed Dillon (Indianapolis, Ind.\/Lawrence Central) followed in third and fourth.<\/p>\n
Coming out of the diving break, EMU cut deeply into NU’s lead with a 1-2 finish in the 100 free. Snarski and Jovanovic got a bunch of those points back immediately with a 1-2 effort in the 200 back. Continuing his impressive form in his first collegiate action, Snarski won the race by almost two full seconds with a time of 1:49.50, which would have placed him third on NU’s final top times list in the event one year ago.<\/p>\n
The best racing of the day occurred in the 200 breast, which Northwestern junior Van Donkersgoed (Eden Prairie, Minn.\/Minnehaha Academy) pulled out by two one-hundredths of a second over Eastern Michigan’s Ryan Fisher with a 2:06.97. Donkersgoed went out fast and opened a large advantage in the race, leading by 1.14 seconds at the 150-yard mark. At that point, Donkersgoed began to fade while Fisher began a super-human charge that Donkersgoed was able to thwart just at the wall for the victory.<\/p>\n
Wilimovsky cruised to a four-second victory over teammate Cole in the 500 free to put Northwestern up by 20 points, 123-103. Though EMU would win the ensuing 100 fly, NU junior Grant Halsall (Laxey, Isle of Man, GBR) and Petersen kept the Wildcats’ lead at 15 points by taking second and third with times of 50.30 and 51.34, respectively.<\/p>\n
During the second diving break, EMU went 1-2 on the 1-meter board to cut the Wildcats’ advantage down to just eight points. Northwestern, however, shut the door with a 1-2 result of its own in the 200 IM led by the third individual win of the meet for Snarski in 1:53.77. Halsall grabbed second place in 1:55.49.<\/p>\n
In the final 400 free relay, the \u00fcber young three freshmen, one sophomore relay of Olshtein, Petersen, Kohner and Jovanovic took first place with a 3:05.31 to account for the final score.<\/p>\n
Northwestern returns to Evanston next Saturday, Oct. 25, in a combined dual with the women against UIC and Oakland.<\/p>\n
Eastern Michigan University’s men’s swimming and diving team opened up the 2014-15 season at home, falling to Big Ten contender Northwestern University, 139-161, Oct. 16. The Eagles won six of the afternoon’s 16 events, spread out between the 100 and 200 free and fly races as well as both diving competitions.<\/p>\n
The meet started out with a close matchup against the two squads’ top 200 medley relay teams. Northwestern’s lineup barely got the edge on the quartet of Cole Bateman (Hutchinson, Minn.-Hutchinson), Kyle Aerne (Lake Villa, Ill.-Lakes Community), Krzysztof Gilski (Dywity, Poland-Adam Mickiewicz State Secondary), and Brian Moore (Anthem, Ariz.-Boulder Creek), as the Wildcats finished in 1:31.51 before the Eagles’ 1:31.98 mark.<\/p>\n
The ‘Cats won their next event behind All-American and USA National Team member Jordan Wilimovsky in the 1000 free, but Kyle Lichtenberg (Clarkston, Mich.-Homeschool) and Franco Petrone (Etobicoke, Ontario-Silverthorne Collegiate Institute) secured the second and third spots in 9:40.69 and 9:45.96, respectively. Wilimovsky went on to win by another wide margin in the 500 free while Lichtenberg, Marcin Rzyski (Olsztyn, Poland-Liceum Ogolnoksztalcace #4), and Petrone finished 3-4-5, led by Lichtenberg’s 4:40.86 finish.<\/p>\n
Andrew Henry (Garner, N.C.-West Johnston) nabbed the first win for the Green and White, taking a commanding lead in the 200 free to win by nearly two seconds in 1:39.48. three ‘Cats swept in before Dylan Crompton (Redford, Mich.-Thurston) touched in at 1:44.63. The Eagles saw more success in the shorter freestyle events throughout the afternoon, as Moore took the title in the 100 free, going 1-2 with Henry in 45.82 and 46.09. The elder Moore was also the first Eagle to touch the wall in the 50 free in a career-best 20.95 seconds to finish second while his brother Kevin Moore (Phoenix, Ariz.-Boulder Creek) took fourth in 21.73.<\/p>\n
A pair of Polish products paced all swimmers in the butterfly events in Gilski and Rzyski. Gilski took the title in the 100 fly, touching in at 50.15 to secure a win by just .15 seconds over NU’s top finisher. Rzyski had the upper hand on his compatriot in the 200 fly, winning in 1:51.15, while Gilski took third in 1:52.01.<\/p>\n
Bateman was the lead Eagle in both backstroke events, falling to Northwestern’s Alex Snarski in both the 100 and 200 back. Snarski was the only swimmer to fall below the 50-second mark in the 100 back and the 1:50.00 mark in the 200 back, but Bateman clinched second in the 100 matchup in 1:51.44. He was edged out by Andrew Jovanovic in the 200 by a slim .04 seconds, taking third in 50.75, while newcomer Logan Burton (Chesapeake, Va.-Hickory) finished fourth in 51.76 seconds.<\/p>\n
The trio of Aerne, Mike Fisher (Saline, Mich.-Saline), and Chris Hodges (Lincolnshire, Ill.-Stevenson) swam in a tight pack near the lead in the Green and White’s breaststroke races. Aerne took second in the 100 breast in 57.35, while Fisher was runner-up in the 200 breast with a mark of 2:06.99. Hodges finished third in both races, while Aerne and Fisher switched off for fourth in the two events.<\/p>\n
In his debut meet donning the Green and White, Jordan Lesser (Bethesda, Md.-Thomas S Wootton (Minnesota-Alabama)) performed exceptionally well inside the confines of Jones Natatorium. Lesser took the title on the 3-meter springboard with a mark of 345.08 and took runner-up behind All-MAC honoree Alex Chan (Toronto, Ontario-Neil McNeil Catholic). Chan notched a score of 326.02 points while Lesser finished with 306.52, as the pair were the only two divers to score above 300 points in the event.<\/p>\n
Following the 1-meter dive, the Eagles had just two events to wrap up the afternoon’s action. Ethan McNally (Loveland, Colo.-Loveland) had the top time for the Eagles in the 200 IM, taking third in 1:55.92, while Aerne finished fourth in 1:57.89. The meet ended with another close relay matchup for the 400 free relay, and the Wildcats once again took the top spot in 3:05.31 while the lineup of Bateman, Dylan Crompton (Redford, Mich.-Thurston), B. Moore, and Henry touched in at 3:05.94. The Eagles were able to take the third spot as well as Gilski, Kristian Berning (Kettering, Ohio-Kettering Fairmont0, Burton, and Erik Brinkhoff (Bethel Park, Pa.-Bethel Park) finished one second ahead of NU’s B team in 3:09.86.<\/p>\n
The Eagles will have a substantial break before their next meet, when they hit the water next in a matchup against Oakland Saturday, Nov. 8 at 1 p.m. in Rochester, Mich.<\/p>\n