Feb. 16, 2001
Evanston, Ill. - Northwestern gained some much-needed ground in the last event of the evening Friday night by taking third in the 800 freestyle relay in 7:20.68. NU finished ahead of Minnesota, which is the team the Wildcats are chasing in the standings. The Wildcats' time was an NCAA "B" standard time.
Junior Merritt Adams (Nocross, Ga./The Lovett School) led the way for the Wildcats in the individual events. She placed fourth in the 100-yard butterfly with a season-best time of 55.11, and also swam the second leg in the sixth-place 200 medley relay.
Katie Simmons (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) swam a collegiate best in the 100-yard breaststroke, placing fifth with an NCAA "B" cut time of 1:03.35. Simmons also anchored the third-place relay squad.
After taking third in the 200 IM last night, Rachel Johnson (Champaign, Ill./Centennial) took fifth place in the 400 IM. Stephanie Cranston (St. Louis, Mo./Mary Institute CD) and Erica Rose (Cleveland, Ohio/Hawken School) also tallied points for NU.
Senior Tashy Bohm (Long Valley, N.J/ West Morris Central) finished fifth in the 100-yard backstroke. She will compete in the 200 backstroke tomorrow where she is the two-time reigning Big Ten champion.
The Big Ten is continuing to assert its dominance as a premier swimming and diving conference. Thus far on the weekend, two new conference records and five Big Ten Championship records have been set, and 10 conference swimmers have automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships.
TOP SIX TEAM STANDINGS
1) Penn State 413 2) Michigan 403 3) Indiana 315 4) Wisconsin 273 5) Minnesota 270 6) NORTHWESTERN 243