Jan. 29, 2010
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Northwestern leads Big Ten foe Penn State while trailing No. 6 Michigan and host No. 9 Ohio State after Friday action in a two-day quad dual meet at the McCorkle Aquatics Pavilion.
The Wildcats are on top of the Nittany Lions, 84-80, while trailing the Wolverines, 127-37, and the Buckeyes, 136-30, halfway through the meet.
Northwestern kicked off the meet by cutting three seconds off its best 400 medley relay time of the season to finish fourth overall with a 3:20.64. The team of Alex Tyler (Birmingham, Mich./Birmingham Groves), Nathan Butler (Cincinnati, Ohio/Turpin), Sean Mathews (St. Louis, Mo./Lafayette) and Brian Kerr (East Grand Rapids, Mich./East Grand Rapids) finished behind a pair of Wolverine teams and the top OSU relay while defeating Penn State.
Freshman Charlie Rimkus (Tustin, Calif./Beckman) and Peter Park (Princeton, N.J./Peddie School) both defeated all Penn State swimmers in the 1,000 free, taking eighth and ninth overall in the event. Rimkus swam a 9:23.28 while Park logged a season-best 9:28.96.
Tyler repeated Rimkus' placing in the 200 free, taking eighth overall behind OSU and UM swimmers but defeating all Penn State opponents. Tyler swam a season-best 1:40.16.
Mathews took fifth overall in the 50 free with a 20.78, finishing behind a Wolverine, two Buckeyes and one Nittany Lion in that order.
Senior Kalister Harmon (Olympia, Wash./Capital) had a strong showing on the 1-meter springboard, compiling a season-best score of 284.00 to take fourth place overall. He topped all divers from Michigan and Penn State.
Varun Shivakumar (Hoffman Estates, Ill./Fremd) was Northwestern's top finisher in the 200 backstroke, placing 11th overall with a 1:52.06.
Tyler swam his second individual season-best time of the night with a 2:01.48 in the 200 breast to come in fifth overall. Butler placed 10th with a 2:05.60, but gave Northwestern's two swimmers in front of all Nittany Lions.
Mathews took fourth overall in the 200 fly with a 1:48.91. He, Park (a season-best 1:51.59 to take eighth) and Rimkus (1:51.74 to place ninth) all defeated Penn State's swimmers in the race.
Day one concluded with a 3:08.08 from Kerr, Chris Doman (Pittsburgh, Pa./St. Charles Prep (Columbus, Ohio)), John Frutiger (Alma, Mich./Alma) and Rimkus in the 400 free relay to place NU ninth overall.
The quad meet concludes with its second session beginning at 11 a.m. tomorrow, Saturday, Jan. 30.