Jan. 23, 2010
EVANSTON, Ill. -- No. 23 Northwestern honored seven seniors Saturday in its final dual meet of the 2009-10 season, then jumped into the Norris Aquatics Center pool and cruised by Iowa, 173.5-121.5.
Northwestern concludes the dual-meet season with an 8-3 record with the win, and now is off to prepare for the Big Ten Championships Feb. 17-20 in West Lafayette, Ind. For ticket information for the Big Ten meet, link to Purduesports.com.
Prior to the meet, Northwestern honored seniors Mary Beth Francis (San Diego, Calif./Mission Viejo), Jenn Kocsis (Omaha, Neb./Marian), Tania Lyerly (Libetyville, Ill./Libertyville), Rachel Rys (Goleta, Calif./Dos Pueblos), Kassia Shishkoff (Raleigh, N.C./St. David's School), Genny Szymanski (Haines, Alaska/Haines) and Emily Wong (Nepean, Ontario/St. Joseph's). More than 600 people attended the Chipotle BIG MEET, where the first 50 students to arrive received a free burrito coupon and one lucky student earned an entire quarter's supply. Free t-shirts also were given out as part of Wildcat Women's Sport Weekend.
Northwestern opened the meet with a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay. Liza Engstrom (Reno, Nev./Robert McQueen), Kathleen Patterson (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley), Katie Eschenburg (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) and Taylor Reynolds (St. Louis, Mo./Webster Groves) comprised NU's top team that had a time of 1:44.61. Iowa took a half-second lead into the final 50 yard sprint and Reynolds was able to close much of the gap, but fell just .17 of a second shy at the wall.
In the first individual event, Kocsis swam a season-best time of 10:10.36 in the 1,000 free to crush the field by almost 19 full seconds. Teammate Ellen Grigg (Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Latin School) was second for the Wildcats with a 10:29.49.
Wong won the 200 free for Northwestern with a 1:51.46, leading a three-way sweep of the top spots. She was followed by Meredith King (Louisville, Ky./duPont Manual) in second and Meghan Cavanaugh (Anchorage, Alaska/East Anchorage) in third.
Iowa then won the top two spots in the 100 back and again captured first in the 100 breast, with Jenny Wilson (Bethesda, Md./Sidwell Friends School) coming in second with a 1:04.62 to led NU.
Shishkoff and Rys took 1-2 in the 200 fly, each swimming season-best times in the event. Shishkoff turned in an NU-season-best 2:02.09 while Rys had a 2:05.36.
Wong won her second race of the day with a 23.39 effort in the 50 free. Eschenburg tied for third place in the race with a 24.01.
During the first half of the meet, Iowa won the 3-meter springboard diving event, followed by three Wildcats. Carlin Dacey (West Roxbury, Mass./Choate Rosemary Hall) was second with a 276.00, Felicitas Lenz (Altadena, Calif./Polytechnic School) third with a 267.68 and Lyerly fourth with a 246.00 to score points on her senior day.
Wong made it a trifecta of wins on her senior day with a 50.92 in the 100 free to claim victory. Reynolds (52.44) and Katie McCullough (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central) took third and fourth, respectively, for the Wildcats.
Szymanski notched a senior day victory with a 2:01.41 in the 200 back followed by King and Jacquie Godbe (Rapid City, S.D./Stevens) in third and fourth.
Wilson won the 200 breast with a time of 2:19.44, followed by Hannah Points (Tualatin, Ore./Tualatin) in second with a 2:22.59. The Wildcats again went 1-2 in the next event, getting a win from Shishkoff (4:53.81) in the 500 free and second-place effort from Kocsis (5:02.66)
Eschenburg, Rys and Kiersten Cooley (Goleta, Calif./Dos Pueblos) went 1-2-3 in the 100 fly before the final break of the meet, with Eschenburg's season-best 56.11 leading the way.
Coming out of the break, King, Points and Godbe swept the 200 individual medley, with King's winning time a season-best 2:06.41. The team of Caitlin Masney (Hong Kong, China/Chinese International School), Engstrom, Eschenburg and Reynolds then won the 400 free relay to close the meet.