March 28, 2002
ATHENS, Ga. - With nine points from three consolation finals, the Northwestern men's swim team is in 16th place at the NCAA Championships on the strength of four competitors.
Sophomore Tony Swanson (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids) became an All-American for the second time in as many years by placing 10th in the consolation finals of the 200 IM (1:46.18). Swanson had finished 13th in the preliminaries with a time of 1:46.66, which was a full second off his school-record qualifying time of 1:45.64.
NU's two other competitors in the 200 IM, Kellan O'Connor (Phoenix, Ariz./Brophy Prep) and Mark Hamming (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) finished 23rd and 32nd, respectively, in the preliminaries with times of 1:47.72 and 1:49.30. Only those swimmers who finish in the top 16 places advance to the finals.
Adam Kennedy (Flossmoor, Ill./Homewood-Flossmoor), NU's fourth qualifier, took 40th in the preliminaries of the 50 freestyle with a time of 20.38.
The Wildcats did team up to compete in a pair of relay events, setting a school record in the process. In the 400 medley relay, NU finished 15th in the preliminaries (3:18.51) and 13th in the consolation finals (3:15.90), setting a new school record for that event. The previous record of 3:16.01 was set in 2001 by Swanson, Aaron McCracken (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central), O'Connor and Steve Steketee.
Swanson led off the 200 free relay attempt that finished 16th in the preliminaries (1:21.47) and 15th in the consolation final (1:22.22). Kennedy swam an impressive 19.71 in his leg of the preliminary event.
The three-day championships continue Friday with preliminaries at 10 a.m. and finals at 6 p.m. CST.