EVANSTON, Illinois, November 19. HELPED by its first two NCAA consideration times of the season and
\npropelled by a wildly deep team performance in the 200 IM, Northwestern jumped out
\nto a big lead Friday at the Norris Aquatics Center after the first day of
\ncompetition at its own five-team TYR Invitational.<\/p>\n
NU scored 354 points Friday, building a 140-point edge on second-place Cleveland
\nState's 214. North Dakota is third with 176.5, Kenyon College is fourth with 166.5
\nand UIC is fifth with 134.<\/p>\n
The three-day TYR Invitational continues tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 20, with
\npreliminary heats at 9 a.m. CT and finals at 6 p.m. CT. Sunday's final day features
\na 9 a.m. CT preliminary session with 3 p.m. CT finals in the afternoon.<\/p>\n
Preliminary portion of Friday's action:<\/p>\n
In the first event of the 2010 TYR Invitational, former Northwestern NCAA champion
\nand two-time Olympian Mike Alexandrov swam unattached and defeated the field in the
\n50 breast to qualify first overall for the finals. The top collegiate entry also was
\na Wildcat, with Nathan Butler swimming a 26.36 to come in second overall.<\/p>\n
Brien Gerber earned a scoring lane with a 13th place overall finish in 28.34 while
\nMac Anthony also snuck into the consolation final with a 16th-place time of 28.82.
\nTim Smith picked up a second-swim in the bonus final with a 30.19 to take 22nd
\noverall.<\/p>\n
Peter Park's then-season-best 4:31.90 won the 500 free prelims to lead a
\nfour-Wildcat contingent in the championship final. Charlie Rimkus was third overall
\nwith a 4:35.44, John Frutiger came in fourth in 4:36.23 and Jan Hanulik rounded out
\nthe NU `A' heat swarm with a fifth-place 4:37.70.<\/p>\n
Tony Mattar (4:47.38) and Chase Stephens (4:47.46) both snuck into the consolation
\nfinal by placing 15th and 16th, respectively, to pick up scoring opportunities for
\nthe Wildcats. Varun Shivakumar's 20th place 4:48.52 won him a second swim in the
\nbonus final of the 500 free.<\/p>\n
Next came the 200 IM, which Northwestern absolutely dominated in the morning.
\nAlexandrov won the prelim heats and Wildcats won six of the other seven lanes held
\nby collegiate entries. Alex Tyler's 1:52.28 was good for second overall followed by
\nHanulik (1:54.14) in third, Sean Mathews (1:54.25) in fourth, Rimkus (1:54.47) in
\nfifth, Park (1:55.73) in seventh and senior Jake Vogel (1:55.94) in eighth.<\/p>\n
Mattar and Gerber both made the consolation final for the second time Friday night
\nwith their preliminary swims in the 200 IM. Mattar was 12th overall in 1:57.04 and
\nGerber took 15th in 1:58.37. Again Shivakumar picked up a bonus final lane, this
\ntime being joined by John Frutiger. Shivakumar swam a 1:59.10 to take 19th and
\nFrutiger was 21st in 1:59.71.<\/p>\n
Contrasting the sheer Wildcat-ness of the 200 IM was the 50 free, which saw
\nAlexander Ratajczyk earn the lone NU entry into the championship final. Ratajczyk
\nswam a then-season-best 21.15 to place seventh overall after the morning session.<\/p>\n
Dominik Cubelic was ninth during the preliminary heats with a season-best 21.25 to
\nearn one of four Wildcat lanes in the consolation heat. Mathews (13th overall;
\n21.41), Tyler (14th overall; 21.42) and Ross McAuliffe (15th overall; 21.44) joined
\nCubelic in that scoring final. Freshman Matt Wilcox picked up a second-swim with a
\n21.73 to finish 20th overall and earn a bonus final lane.<\/p>\n
Finals portion of Friday's action:<\/p>\n
Northwestern got off to a strong start Friday night with a win in the 200 free
\nrelay. The team of Ratajczyk, Mathews, Tyler and Cubelic turned in a season-best
\n1:22.31 to edge Cleveland State by .30 of a second. Ratajczyk earned a slim lead for
\nNU with a season-best 50-free time of 20.97 in the leadoff position, but the
\nWildcats actually trailed in the race heading into the anchor leg. Cubelic ripped
\noff a 20.19 split to chase down CSU's Alex Lewis (20.56) to earn top points for the
\n`Cats.<\/p>\n
While the individual swimming finals were held, Nick Pinkerton led the Northwestern
\neffort on the 3-meter springboard to take third place overall in the only diving
\nevent held Friday. Pinkerton scored a 269.15 for NU.<\/p>\n
Alexandrov's 24.36 easily won the 50 breast, with Butler cutting .04 of a second off
\nhis preliminary time but falling from the second seed to fourth-place overall for
\nthe Wildcats. The big story in the 50 breast for NU Friday night was written by
\nAnthony, who surged from 16th after the preliminary heats all the way to 10th
\noverall during the consolation final, dropping 1.18 seconds to turn in a 27.64.
\nGerber took 15th with a 28.46 Friday night. Smith cut time in his bonus final swim,
\nmoving up a spot to place 21st after a 29.76.<\/p>\n
In the championship final of the 500 free, Rimkus blazed to a more-than-10-second
\nimprovement to win in NCAA `B' consideration fashion with a season-best 4:24.77. The
\neffort was NU's first NCAA cut time of the 2010-11 season. His more-than-four-second
\nvictory paced a Wildcat squad which earned four of the top-five spots in the event.
\nPark's season-best 4:31.60 took third overall while Frutiger was fourth in 4:33.96
\nand Hanulik placed fifth in 4:35.06.<\/p>\n
Mattar, who was 15th overall after the morning swim, came back to swim 12.28 seconds
\nfaster and win the consolation final with a season-best 4:35.10. Stephens also
\nimproved dramatically, turning his 16th-place slot into an 11th-place overall finish
\nby cutting almost nine full seconds from his preliminary time to turn in a 4:38.57.
\nShivakumar joined the Wildcats making dramatic drops in time with a
\nmore-than-10-second cut in the bonus final, winning the heat and taking 17th overall
\nwith a 4:37.96.<\/p>\n
In the 200 IM finals, Tyler smoked the field and defeated the two-time Olympian
\nAlexandrov by more than a second with an NU-season-best and NCAA `B' provisional
\nqualifying standard of 1:46.57. After Alexandrov's second-place time, it was all
\nWildcats in places third-through-seventh with every `Cat cutting time from his
\nmorning effort.<\/p>\n
Mathews (1:50.35) was third, Rimkus (1:52.66) took fourth, Hanulik (1:53.58) came in
\nfifth, Vogel (1:54.51) placed sixth and Park (1:55.65) turned in a seventh-place
\neffort for NU to complete the 200 IM championship final. In the consolation heat,
\nMattar moved up from 12th to 10th overall with a 1:55.34 at night while Gerber
\njumped from 15th to 12th with a 1:57.63. Shivakumar again put on a show in the bonus
\nfinal, winning by 3.7 seconds when he cut 4.10 seconds from his preliminary swim to
\nturn in a 17th-place overall time of 1:55.00 — a time which would have take second
\nplace in the consolation heat.<\/p>\n
Ratajczyk jumped three spots to finish fourth overall in the 50 free after a 21.08
\nin the championship heat. Cubelic raced to a consolation-final winning time of
\n20.84, easily his best effort of the season and a time that would have placed him
\nsecond overall in the entire field. McAuliffe took third in the consolation final
\nand 11th overall with a season-best 21.08. Also scoring points for NU in the event
\nwere Mathews (21.59) in 15th and Tyler (22.04) in 16th.<\/p>\n
Freshman Wilcox shot up from 20th to 17th place overall after a 21.40 to win the
\nbonus final for Northwestern.<\/p>\n
The Wildcats put an exclamation point on the opening day of the TYR with a more-than
\nfive second victory in the 400 medley relay. The team of Cubelic, Tyler, Mathews and
\nRatajczyk put up a season-best 3:19.27 to capture that crown.<\/p>\n
Northwestern opened a big advantage over its competition Friday
\nfollowing the first day of the six-team TYR Invitational at the Norris Aquatics
\nCenter, placing multiple swimmers in every championship heat including four in the
\n200 IM and five in the 50 free.<\/p>\n
NU totaled 446 points, 237 more than its nearest competitor. Iowa State is second
\nwith 209 points, Cleveland State is third with 195, North Dakota is fourth with 127,
\nKenyon is fifth with 101 and UIC is sixth with 77.<\/p>\n
The three-day TYR Invitational continues tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 20, with
\npreliminary heats at 9 a.m. CT and finals at 6 p.m. CT. Sunday's final day features
\na 9 a.m. CT preliminary session with 3 p.m. CT finals in the afternoon.<\/p>\n
Preliminary portion of Friday's action:<\/p>\n
Kathleen Patterson and Jenny Wilson both earned spots in the championship final of
\nthe first event of the Invitational, the 50 breast. Patterson qualified fourth
\noverall in 30.33 while Wilson was seventh in 30.46<\/p>\n
Headlining the entries in the consolation final of the event was Katie McCullough,
\nwhose 30.96 placed her ninth overall following morning competition. Joining her in
\nthe `B' scoring final were NU's Emily Russart (12th overall; 31.18) and Marybeth
\nHall (13th overall; 21.19). Megan Goss picked up a second-swim opportunity with a
\n32.17, which placed her 23rd overall and in the bonus final in the evening session.<\/p>\n
Senior Ellen Grigg got off to a phenomenal start in the final TYR Invitational of
\nher career, winning the preliminary heats of the 500 free by nearly three full
\nseconds with a then-Northwestern-season-best 4:53.76. She was joined in the
\nchampionship final by Alex Kraus (5:03.17) and Beth Loe (5:03.41), who qualified
\nsixth and seventh, respectively.<\/p>\n
Goss made the consolation final of the 500 free with a 5:05.13 to qualify 10th while
\nteammates Erin Sosdian (13th overall; 5:07.40) and Caroline Walls (15th overall;
\n5:08.51) also picked up spots in the scoring `B' final while Fallon Fitzpatrick,
\nMeghan Cavanaugh and Kate Stephensen earned second-swim opportunities in the `C'
\nbonus final by placing 22nd, 23rd and 24th overall in preliminary action.<\/p>\n
Patterson picked up her second `A' final slot of the day by taking second overall
\nwith a season-best 2:05.46 in the 200 IM, leading a group of four Wildcats to earn
\nchampionship heat lanes in the event. Jacquie Godbe was fourth in 2:06.87, Meredith
\nKing placed sixth in 2:07.63 and Jackie Powell was seventh in 2:07.73.<\/p>\n
Two more Wildcats found the consolation finals when Becca Soderholm (13th overall;
\n2:10.10) and Hannah Points (14th overall; 2:10.22) earned top-16 preliminary
\nfinishes. Meghan Fenn (2:11.52) and Russart (2:11.84) were 17th and 19th overall,
\nrespectively, slotting them in the bonus final for the evening.<\/p>\n
Five Wildcats were among the top eight in the 50 free preliminary heats, led by
\nTaylor Reynolds' first-place overall and then-season-best 23.44. Shelby Johnson came
\nin fourth in a then-season-best 23.93, Powell was fifth in 24.07, Alex Kraus took
\nsixth in 24.09 and Erin Reilly grabbed the final slot in the `A' heat after a
\nthree-way swimoff. Reilly and two other swimmers tied for seventh at 24.18, then
\nReilly and North Dakota's Devonne Dalin tied again with identical 23.92's in the
\nswimoff to both find lanes in the championship heat Friday night.<\/p>\n
Grigg (24.20), Hall (24.24) and Liza Engstrom (24.32) all won scoring final spots in
\nthe `B' heat, while Katie Eschenburg (24.41) picked up a bonus-final entry for the
\n`Cats.<\/p>\n
Finals portion of Friday's action:<\/p>\n
Northwestern won the opening scoring event of the TYR Invitational with a
\nseason-best 1:33.31 in the 200 free relay. The team of Powell, Johnson, Kraus and
\nReynolds earned a .69 of a second victory in the event, pulling away for the win
\nwith strong legs from Kraus (23.39) and Reynolds (22.79).<\/p>\n
During the finals swimming heats Friday night, the Lenz sisters went 1-2 for
\nNorthwestern while the Wildcats on the whole took four of the top-five spots in the
\n1-meter diving event. Sophomore Felicitas Lenz scored a Northwestern-season-best
\ntotal of 289.05 to win while freshman Cosima Lenz took second with a 277.20. Carlin
\nDacey was fourth for NU with a 242.40 and Mary Kate Campbell captured fifth in
\n241.80.<\/p>\n
Patterson cut more than a half-second off her time in the 50 breast to jump from the
\nfourth seed Friday night to a second-place overall finish in 29.82. Wilson dropped
\n.45 of a second in her championship final effort, moving from seventh after the
\nmorning session to a fifth-place overall finish in 30.01.<\/p>\n
Russart (29.89) and McCullough (30.65) went 1-2 in the consolation final to take
\nninth and 10th places overall, while Hall tied for 12th with a 21.99. Coupled with
\nGoss' 23rd overall finish with a 32.04, every competing Wildcat dropped more than a
\ntenth of a second from morning to evening in the 50 breast.<\/p>\n
Grigg, a first-team All-American in the 500 free earlier in her career, roared to
\nNorthwestern's first NCAA consideration time of the 2010-11 season with a `B' cut of
\n4:52.05 to win the 500 free by 1.51 seconds. Loe came in third in 4:57.86,
\nout-touching Kraus' fourth-place time of 4:57.89 to give NU three of the top-four
\nfinishers in the event.<\/p>\n
The Wildcats also took three of the top-four spots in the consolation final, led by
\nSosdian's 4:56.21, a more-than 11 second drop from morning to evening that would
\nhave placed her third in the championship heat. Goss followed in second with an
\nequally impressive 4:58.12 to cut over seven full seconds from her preliminary time.
\nWalls jumped from 15th after the preliminary heats to 12th in the finals with a
\n5:05.29 — a more than three second improvement for the senior.<\/p>\n
NU's top two bonus final entries took top honors in that heat, with Fitzpatrick
\ncutting more than 7.5 seconds to win the race and take 17th overall in 5:05.04 and
\nCavanaugh dropping over six seconds to take second place in the heat and 18th
\noverall in 5:06.98. Stephensen came in 24th overall with a 5:18.58 Friday night.<\/p>\n
Patterson followed her second place effort in the 50 breast with a win in the 200
\nIM, taking first by .98 of a second with a Northwestern-season-best 2:03.88. Powell
\nwas third overall in 2:06.12, King finished fourth in 2:06.43 and Godbe also cut
\ntime in the finals, though she dropped from fourth to sixth place overall after a
\n2:06.62.<\/p>\n
Soderholm raced to a win in the consolation final of the 200 IM with a 2:06.30, 3.80
\nseconds faster than her 13th-place morning time. Points took 13th overall with a
\n2:08.61 Friday night. In the bonus final, Fenn (2:08.87) and Russart (2:09.31) went
\n1-2 for NU to take 17th and 18th places overall.<\/p>\n
Reynolds popped for a Northwestern season-best 23.35 to win the 50 free for the
\nWildcats by .04 of a second over a foe from Cleveland State. Powell (23.63) was
\nthird for NU followed by Kraus (23.90) in fifth, Johnson (24.08) in seventh and
\nReilly (24.19) in eighth.<\/p>\n
After her NCAA consideration time in the 500 free, Grigg showed off her sprint chops
\nto take ninth overall with a consolation final-winning time of 23.99 in the 50 free
\nover teammate Hall's 10th place overall 24.04. Engstrom finished in a dead heat for
\n12th with a 24.31. In the bonus final, Eschenburg was 20th overall in 24.45.<\/p>\n
Northwestern concluded Friday night's action with a 3.62 second win in the 400
\nmedley relay, getting a season-best time of 3:46.48 from the team of Engstrom,
\nRussart, Cavanaugh and Powell.<\/p>\n
The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World Magazine<\/i>. It has been posted in its entirety without editing. Swimming World<\/i> offers all outlets the chance to reach our audience by contacting us at Newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com. However, Swimming World<\/i> reserves the right to choose what material is posted.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n