Jan. 25, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill. -- No. 6 Northwestern returns to the pool for one final dual meet Friday-Saturday, Jan. 26-27, against both No. 14 Ohio State and No. 12 Michigan at the McCorkle Aquatic Center in Columbus, Ohio.
The meet will be scored over the course of two days, with the first session beginning at 5 p.m. Friday evening and the second getting started at 11 a.m. Saturday. All three teams will swim simultaneously in the double-dual.
Northwestern enters the weekend with a perfect 6-0 dual-meet record on the season, including wins over No. 12 Indiana, No. 16 Notre Dame and No. 18 Purdue. Though not in a dual, the Wildcats also defeated No. 3 California and No. 10 Florida State at the Dallas Morning News Swimming & Diving Classic earlier this month.
The performances moved Northwestern up two spots to No. 6 in the latest College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) coaches poll.
Three different Wildcats have earned nine NCAA automatic qualifying times so far this season. Matt Grevers (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) has 'A' cuts in the 100 free, 200 free, 100 fly, 100 back, 200 back and the 200 IM, while Mike Alexandrov (Champaign, Ill./Centennial) has 'A' times in both breaststroke events. Junior Kyle Bubolz (Waukesha, Wis./Waukesha North) has one 'A' cut in his signature event, the 100 fly.
The 400 medley relay also has an 'A' cut this year after a time of 3:10.87 at the DMN Classic.
The Wildcats have 11 NCAA 'B' cuts in addition to their bountiful automatic times so far this year.
Host Ohio State is 6-1 on the year after picking up victories against Western Illinois and Iowa over the weekend. The Buckeyes have several strong swimmers, with Joe Doyle, George Markovic, Mark Neiman and Daniel Malnik all holding event times ranked in the top-20 in the nation this season.
The Wolverines have a 6-4-1 dual-meet record this season after recording a rare tie against Indiana. Michigan has not lost a Big Ten dual meet in its last 38 outings, dating back to 1999. The Wolverines have earned two automatic qualifiers to the NCAA meet and have 20 'B' times this season.