Oct. 21, 2009
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern's men's and women's swimming and diving teams kick off the 2009-10 season at 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, at the Norris Aquatics Center when they host Indiana in a combined dual meet. The day also will feature festivities to honor former men's head coach Bob Groseth, who retired over the summer following 20 years at the helm of the Wildcats' program.
A host of former Wildcats are expected to return to Evanston for the Groseth event, which will take place officially during Friday's first break in the meet program (around 4:45 p.m.) Fans are encouraged to attend; admission is free to NU swimming and diving meets.
Men's Preview
Northwestern looks to start strong this season under the leadership of new head coach Jarod Schroeder, who took over following multiple years as a volunteer assistant and one as the Wildcats' assistant coach in 2008-09. A number of NU swimmers look to take on the leadership roles left behind after losing seniors Adam Beckman, John Franklin and multi-time All-American Eric Nilsson to graduation.
"We've got a lot of guys who are all at the same level who are fighting to be that [leadership] person. It's fun to watch in practice them compete to try to show us coaches that they are the team leaders," said Schroeder.
Those potential leaders can be found at nearly every stroke. Junior Brian Kerr (East Grand Rapids, Mich./East Grand Rapids) leads the Wildcats in the sprint freestyle. Fellow juniors Sean Mathews (St. Louis, Mo./Lafayette) and Alex Tyler (Birmingham, Mich./Birmingham Groves) are both poised for break out seasons in the butterfly and breaststroke, respectively, after great summer workouts. Tyler also will be a force in the IM after finishing third in the 200-meter individual medley at the U.S. Open this summer.
A group of Wildcats are competing at the mid-distance and distance positions, with junior co-captain Peter Park (Princeton, N.J./Peddie School) adding experience to a group that consists of two sophomores and three freshmen. Also serving as a co-captain for Northwestern is senior Chris Doman (Pittsburgh, Pa./St. Charles Prep (Columbus, Ohio)).
Varun Shivakumar (Hoffman Estates, Ill./Fremd) in the backstroke along with Jan Hanulik (Cavisov, Czech Republic /Sportovni Gymnazium) and Charlie Rimkus (Tustin, Calif./Beckmanir) in the middle distance freestyle all have been promising in the early stages of their freshmen season so far.
Rimkus is poised to be Northwestern's biggest freshman scorer and performer in his events.
Men's preview contributed by Athletic Communications student assistant Matt Boucher.
Women's Preview
With 35 swimmers on the roster and college swimming back on an even keel following the hi-tech suit season of 2008-09, Northwestern is poised to regain its form of 2007-08, which saw it finish 19th in the nation to complete the Wildcats' most successful year in nearly a decade.
Northwestern's depth was apparent last year, when 14 different swimmers put 25 separate performances onto the Wildcats' all-time top-times list. Thirteen of those 14 Wildcats are back for this season, meaning nearly half of NU's returners already rank among the fastest swimmers in program history.
Leading the way is junior Ellen Grigg (Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Latin School), who as the Wildcats' lone representative at the 2009 NCAA meet broke three school records in just two swims. The distance freestyle specialist won first-team All-America honors as a freshman in 2008.
A very strong class of seniors opens their final campaign with eyes on the NCAA meet. Kassia Shishkoff (Raleigh, N.C./St. David's School) also is a strong mid-distance freestyler while contributing big things in the IM and 200 butterfly, Emily Wong (Nepean, Ontario/St. Joseph's) leads Northwestern's sprint free group and Genny Szymanski (Haines, Alaska/Haines) is the school-record holder in the 200 backstroke.
Underclassmen also already have made names for themselves, including sprint freestylers Teisha Lightbourne (Nassau, Bahamas/Peddie School (N.J.) and Shelby Johnson (Wayzata, Minn./Wayzata); Beth Loe (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington) in the distance free; 100 backstroke school-record holder Liza Engstrom (Reno, Nev./Robert McQueen) and Katie Eschenburg (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) in the back; Jenny Wilson (Bethesda, Md./Sidwell Friends School) and Kathleen Patterson (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) in the breast; Meghan Cavanaugh (Anchorage, Alaska/East Anchorage) and Alex Kraus (Birmingham, Alaska/Vestavia Hills) in the fly; and Hannah Points (Tualatin, Ore./Tualatin) in the individual medley.
Head coach Jimmy Tierney calls this year's relays "our rock with the talent we have." With strong freestylers up and down the distances, Tierney is looking for all free relays to be strengths for Northwestern this season. Experience and increased competition in the strokes also should prove a boon for the Wildcats' medley relays this year.