March 26, 2004
LONG ISLAND, N.Y. -- Northwestern remains in ninth place with one day remaining at the NCAA Championships in Long Island, N.Y. The Wildcats added five more top-15 finishes Friday, bringing their total to 10 overall for the Championships.
NU currently sits with 93 points, 11 points ahead of 10th-place Minnesota and 32 points behind eighth-place Tennessee. Thirty teams have representatives participating in the Championships.
"We are continuing to swim to our capabilities and score well," Wildcat head coach Bob Groseth said. "We have swimmers very capable of scoring in tomorrow's events, and I am optimistic for a very strong finish."
Freshman Matt Grevers (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) earned his second top-10 showing of the weekend, finishing sixth in the 100-meter backstroke with a 52.11. Grevers finished ninth in the 50-meter freestyle Thursday. Freshman Mike Alexandrov (Champaign, Ill./Centennial) also picked up a top-10 finish, placing ninth in the 400-meter IM with a time of 4:12.77.
Tony Swanson (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids) and Alexandrov also contibuted 11th-place showings to the Wildcat cause. Swanson placed 11th with a 52.85 in the 100-meter butterfly while Alexandrov earned his placing with a 1:00.61 in the 100-meter breaststroke.
Two NU relays placed in the top 16 Friday. The 200-meter medley relay (Grevers, Louis Torres (Morton Grove, Ill./Niles West), Swanson, Ben Dexter (Indianapolis, Ind./Roncalli)) finished 13th with a time of 1:38.93. The 800-meter freestyle relay (Brian Davis (Issaquah, Wash./Issaquah), Matt Wever (Boise, Idaho/Boise), Alexandrov, Mark Hamming (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) earned a 16th-place mark with a time of 7:22.04.
Also participating Friday in the Championships for NU were: Hamming in the 100 fly (23rd), Davis in the 400 IM (25th), Torres in the 100 breast (29th) and Wever in the 200 free (47th).
The Wildcats will participate in six of the seven events tomorrow during the Championships' final day.
More information and final results can be found by linking to the NCAA Championships.