Oct. 22, 2010
Site: Bloomington, Ind. (Counsilman Billingsley Aquatic Center)
Score: Indiana 159, Northwestern 131
Records: NU (0-1, 0-1 Big Ten), Indiana (1-0, 1-0 Big Ten)
Next NU Event: Nov. 5, 2010 -- vs. Purdue (Norris Aquatics Center), 5 p.m. CT
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Both senior Alex Tyler (Birmingham, Mich./Birmingham Groves) and sophomore Charlie Rimkus (Tustin, Calif./Beckman) won a pair of events in Northwestern's season-opening meet Friday afternoon at Indiana, but the Wildcats fell to the Hoosiers, 159-131.
"Overall I thought we are at or a little better than where we were at this point last season," head coach Jarod Schroeder said. "Indiana looked the part of a top-3 team in the Big Ten. We are still early in our training so I told the guys `this meet did not go like you are perceiving it went.' We will get more into the speed and power components of our training in the coming weeks and start to see those results."
The team of Varun Shivakumar (Hoffman Estates, Ill./Fremd), Tyler, Dominik Cubelic (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South) and Ross McAuliffe (Shapwick, United Kingdom/Millfield School) took third in the 200 medley relay with a 1:34.29 to open the 2010-11 season.
In the 1,000 freestyle, senior Peter Park (Princeton, N.J./Peddie School) stormed ahead of Indiana's Ryan Hinshaw in the final 300 yards to best him by .48 of a second, turning in a career-best time of 9:22.18 to take second place in the event.
Indiana took the top-three scoring positions in both the 200 free and the 100 back before Tyler grabbed the first win of the meet for the Wildcats in the 100 breast. The senior's time of 57.25 put him in front of a quartet of Hoosier competitors behind him.
Senior Sean Mathews (St. Louis, Mo./Lafayette) and Rimkus took second and third in the 200 fly with times of 1:50.47 and 1:51.75, respectively. In the 50 free, the NU freshman combination of Cubelic (21.35) and McAuliffe (21.53) took fourth and fifth for NU.
During the first diving break, freshman Tanner Nemkov (Littleton, Colo./Heritage) took third on the 1-meter springboard with a 244.73 to lead NU.
After the mid-meet break, Alexander Ratajczyk (Parlin, N.J./Sayreville War Memorial) was Northwestern's top finisher with a fourth-place time of 47.06 in the 100 free. Shivakumar then was the Wildcats' fastest in the 200 back with a fifth-place time of 1:54.51.
Tyler grabbed his second win of the meet with a 2:04.24 in the 200 breast to top IU's fastest swimmer in the event by .41 of a second. In the 500 free, Rimkus built a large advantage in the 500 free before coasting to a nearly one-full second victory over Indiana's Illya Larin with a time of 4:30.66.
Mathews came in second to lead the Wildcats in the 100 fly, turning in a time of 49.77. After the second meet break -- in which Nemkov led NU with a fourth-place finish on the 3-meter springboard with a 284.63 -- Rimkus came back to out-duel teammate Tyler and capture the 400 IM in 4:00.01. Tyler's second-place time with a4:01.00, 2.6 seconds faster than the quickest Indiana swimmer in the event.
"Peter Park had a great meet, we won a couple of events with Alex Tyler and Charlie Rimkus," Schroeder said. "I thought Tony Mattar and Alex Ratajczyk swam well. The guys looked pretty tired from our training, but overall I'm happy with how we competed."
NU's team of Cubelic, Ratajczyk, Mattar and Mathews concluded the meet with a second-place time of 3:07.79 in the 400 free relay.
Northwestern returns to action at 5 p.m. CT Friday, Nov. 5, against Purdue in a combined meet at the Norris Aquatics Center.
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