March 17, 2007
MINNEAPOLIS -- On an afternoon that turned out to be like last night's finals, No. 5 Northwestern qualified for three different championship finals during Saturday's preliminary heats on the final day of the NCAA Championships at the University of Minnesota Aquatic Center.
The 'Cats will be represented in the 200 back, 100 free and 400 free relay in tonight's finals as they look to hold onto their sixth-place standing.
On day three Northwestern was led by senior Matt Grevers (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) and junior Bruno Barbic (Zagreb, Croatia), who both earned a pair of All-America honors. Kyle Bubolz (Waukesha, Wis./Waukesha North) and Eric Nilsson (Weston, Mass./Weston) also earned one All-America honor each to bring the Wildcats' total for the Championships to 21.
With only one relay event, the 400 free relay, being swum on the final day of the Championships, Saturday's prelims began with the individual events. Grevers led things off for the 'Cats, swimming in the final heat of the 200 back preliminaries as the event's top seed.
The Wildcat senior protected his top seed, cruising to a time of 1:41.55 and will swim tonight's championship final in lane four. The championship final will have a Big Ten feel to it, as Indiana's Ben Hesen and Minnesota's David Plummer also qualified for the final.
By qualifying for the championship final, Grevers earned his fifth All-America honor of these Championships and the 26th of his storied career.
Up next for the 'Cats were a pair of juniors, Barbic and Bubolz, who entered the 100 free prelims with the exact same seed time (43.14). Barbic, seeded 11th before prelims, used a new personal-best time of 42.79 to sneak into tonight's championship final as the eight seed.
Thanks to his new personal-best time, the Croatia native earned the first individual All-America honor of his career. Previously he had earned a pair of honorable mention All-America honors in the 50 free.
Just like in the 100 back yesterday, Bubolz just missed the cutoff to earn a second swim. The junior clocked a time of 43.51 to finish tied for 21st.
For the second day in a row, disaster once again struck the 'Cats in the form of a disqualification. Senior Mike Alexandrov (Champaign, Ill./Centennial), swimming in the last event of his collegiate career as the top seed in the 200 breast, was disqualified for a one-hand touch on the final turn.
The NCAA champion in the 100 breast ends his career with 24 All-America honors after amassing four honors during these Championships.
Immediately after Alexandrov's unfortunate disqualification, Nilsson got onto the blocks for the first heat of the 200 fly. The Wildcat sophomore finished second in his heat, 22nd overall, with a time of 1:46.79.
Saturday's prelims ended with the 400 freestyle relay, where the Northwestern contingent of Grevers, Barbic, Nilsson and Bubolz entered the prelims seeded sixth. After Grevers' leadoff leg of 42.73 gave the 'Cats the lead, the next three Wildcat swimmers made sure no one got ahead of them as they won their heat with a time of 2:52.48.
When the water settled after the third heat for the relay, the Wildcats sat in fourth place, earning themselves All-America honors and a swim in tonight's championship final.
The Wildcats' final swims of the Championships will begin at 7 p.m. CT.
Real-time results for tonight's finals can be found at NCAA Championships.