Nov. 18, 2001
EVANSTON, Ill. - Both the Northwestern men's and women's swimming and diving teams couldn't break a two-day lead by Purdue and both finished second at the annual NU Invitational.
The women ended up trailing the Boilermakers by just 92 points with a final score of 1,078. NU's men totaled 800.5 points to Purdue's 1,123.5. For both the men and women, Southern Illinois took third place while Louisville took fourth.
Wildcat highlights on the women's side included a top-3 sweep of the 1,650 free. Vicky West won the event in 16:55.28, while Erica Rose took second in 17:12.29 and Stephanie Cranston finished third in 17:23.48.
The women also swept the first four spots in the 200 fly. Carmen Cosgrove (2:02.63) took first, followed by Rachel Johnson (2:03.45), Merritt Adams (2:03.46) and Christy Olin (2:03.85). Cosgrove's time qualified as an NCAA 'B' Standard.
In the men's 200 fly, Kellan O'Connor took first (1:47.76) and teammate Mark Hamming finished second (1:49.90). O'Connor's time was also an NCAA 'B' Standard.
Both the Wildcat men's and women's teams finished second to Purdue in the final event of the Invitational, the 400 free relay. The women were 3.09 seconds off Purdue's 3:26.65, while the men finished just six-tenths of a second behind the top time of 3:04.36.
O'Connor finished with two victories this weekend, taking the 100 and 200 fly events. Tony Swanson also had a pair of first-place finishes, in the 200 IM and 200 free.
Cosgrove was the only Wildcat on the women's team with two victories as she dominated both the 100 and 200 fly.
On the diving board, Elliot Massuda took first in the 1-meter (296.95) and third in the 3-meter. The women's highest finisher was Ashley Carter, who took second in the 1-meter (261.45) and third in the 3-meter (432.05).
Three pool records were broken during the weekend, all by Purdue swimmers. Tamas Bessenyei now owns the top time at Norris Aquatics Center in the men's 100 breast (55.18) and the 200 breast (2:00.54), while Lindsay Lange broke the record in the women's 100 breast (1:01.8).