Nov. 20, 2010
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern earned two more individual NCAA `B' consideration times and its first relay `B' cut of the year Saturday at the TYR Invitational while extending its lead over the field during the second day of action at the Norris Aquatics Center.
NU has 732 points, leading second-place Cleveland State (461), third-place Kenyon College (406.5), fourth-place North Dakota (338.5) and fifth-place UIC (334).
The three-day TYR Invitational concludes tomorrow, Sunday, Nov. 21, with preliminary heats at 9 a.m. CT and finals at 3 p.m. CT.
Preliminary portion of Saturday's action:
Charlie Rimkus set the tone early for Northwestern Saturday morning with a dominating 2.63 second win during the preliminary heats of the 400 IM with a time of 4:00.30. He paced a four-Wildcat contingent of Peter Park (second place; 4:02.93), Alex Tyler (third place; 4:04.74) and John Frutiger (eighth place; 4:10.22) to earn spots in the championship final of the event.
Sean Mathews earned the Wildcats lone entry into the 100 fly championship heat with a third-place morning finish in 50.33. Dominik Cubelic won the final scoring spot in the event with a 16th-place time of 52.47 in the preliminary heats, barely out-touching teammate Nathan Butler's 17th place time of 52.49. Butler earned the top lane in the bonus final along with fellow Wildcats Tony Mattar (19th; 53.22) and Brien Gerber (21st; 53.36), though only Gerber would go on to swim at night.
Frutiger won the top spot in the 200 free prelims by nearly a full second with a 1:41.17, followed by Rimkus in third with a 1:42.08, Jan Hanulik in fifth with a 1:42.54 and Park in seventh with a 1:43.78. With four `Cats in the championship final, no NU entry made the consolation final in the 200 free, although Mattar, Alex Ratajczyk, Chase Stephens and Jake Vogel all won spots in the bonus final.
Nathan Butler was the top Wildcat in the 100 breast in the morning, coming in third with a 57.63. Gerber fought his way into the consolation heat by taking 13th in the prelims with a 1:01.35. Mac Anthony (17th; 1:02.96) and Tim Smith (21st; 1:04.87) won second-swims in the bonus final.
Tyler rounded out the morning action by winning the 100 back preliminary heats with a time of 51.43. Cubelic was third in 51.79, Varun Shivakumar was sixth in 52.61 and Mathews took seventh in 52.65 to give NU four swimmers in the title heat. Hanulik was 10th after the morning session with a 53.12 and Vogel was 11th in 53.35 to give both `Cats consolation final lanes. Ratajczyk (18th; 55.38) and Daniel Salovesh (24th; 57.25) both earned second swims in the bonus final.
Finals portion of Saturday's action:
Tyler, Butler, Mathews and Cubelic opened the evening session with an easy win in the 200 medley relay, booking a season-best time of 1:30.86. Tyler put the team in the lead early with a 23.24 50 back split before Mathews' meet-best 21.59 50 fly opened an insurmountable advantage.
During the swimming events Saturday night, the men's divers competed in the 1-meter springboard event. Nick Pinkerton was the top-finishing Wildcats with a score of 249.40.
In the 400 IM championship final, Tyler and Rimkus put on a stellar duel-in-the-pool. Tyler jumped ahead big during the strokes before Rimkus desperately tried to reel in his teammate in the final 100 free sprint, but Tyler touched the wall .27 of a second ahead of Rimkus for the win. Still, Tyler's 3:51.63 and Rimkus' 3:51.90 both are NCAA `B' consideration times and were nearly six full seconds ahead of the next-closest competitor.
Park came in third in the 400 IM with a 3:57.59, more than five seconds better than his morning swim to make it a 1-2-3 NU sweep at the top.
Finding himself trailing at the 50-yard mark, Mathews turned on the jets to win the 100 fly by .15 of a second with a time of 48.81. Cubelic finished in a dead-heat for the victory in the consolation final with Cleveland State's Justin Kermack, both turning in a 51.54 - although Cubelic's performance was more impressive given he took ninth overall after sneaking into the scoring heat in 16th place in qualifying. Gerber cut .70 of a second off his preliminary time for a 52.66 in the bonus 100 fly final to take 19th.
Frutiger lead a second 1-2-3 NU sweep in the finals with a 1:39.54 in the 200 free, whipping second-place teammate Hanulik's 1:41.25 and Park's 1:41.85. Tired from his earlier 400 IM race with Tyler, Rimkus placed eighth in the 200 free with a finals time of 1:43.45.
All four Wildcats in the bonus final rose to the top, led by Mattar's 17th place 1:42.39, then Stephens' 18th-place 1:42.68, Ratajczyk's 1:43.06 and Wilcox's 1:45.32. Interestingly, the top three `Cats in the bonus final also would have been the top three finishers in the consolation heat with those evening times.
Butler (57.48) took third overall in the 100 breast while Anthony (59.97) was 10th and Gerber (1:00.26) was 11th. Smith won the bonus heat in 1:01.52, cutting more than three seconds off his prelim time to win his heat by 2.47 seconds.
Tyler led a 1-2-3-4 Northwestern sweep in the 100 back with a 49.71 to win the event. Shivakumar rose to second with a 50.47, more than two seconds faster than his prelim time. Cubelic was third in 50.53 -- just .05 of a second behind Shivakumar -- and Mathews was fourth in 51.91.
Vogel won the consolation final with a 51.33 to drop more than two seconds from his morning swim. Hanulik took 11th overall in 52.34, then Ratajczyk won the bonus final in 53.85 and Salovesh jumped from 24th to 20th with a 55.26 Saturday night.
Northwestern concluded Saturday night's action with a nearly 12 second win in the 800 free relay, getting an NCAA `B' cut of 6:40.52 from the team of Park, Hanulik, Tyler and Frutiger.
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