Nov. 6, 2010
Site: Evanston, Ill. (Norris Aquatics Center)
Score: Northwestern 184, UW-Milwaukee 113
Score: Northwestern 164, UIC 133
Score: Northwestern 231, North Dakota 64
Records: NU (3-2, 0-2 Big Ten), UIC (4-1), UW-Milwaukee (6-3), North Dakota (2-4)
Next NU Event: Nov. 11, 2010 -- at Wisconsin (Madison, Wis.), 5 p.m. CT
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern swept all three duals Saturday afternoon during a quad-meet at the Norris Aquatics Center, defeating UW-Milwaukee (184-113), UIC (164-133) and North Dakota (231-64).
Northwestern began the meet with a second-place overall finish in the 200 medley relay behind Illinois-Chicago. The Flames built an early edge in the backstroke and breaststroke legs before the NU team of Jake Vogel, Nathan Butler, Tony Mattar and Dominik Cubelic crept back within .45 of second to finish with a 1:33.32.
Charlie Rimkus won the first 1,650 free race of the year for Northwestern, blowing away the field by nearly 27 seconds with a final time of 15:48.68. Alex Tyler followed with a victorious 1:41.74 in the 200 free before Cubelic dominated the 100 back with a 50.99, winning by more than 1.5 seconds.
Illinois-Chicago took the top-two positions in the 100 breast, followed closely by Butler in third for NU with a 57.86. Butler's final 50 yards were .22 of a second faster than the runner-up for the Flames, but he was unable to completely close the gap and touched .11 of a second behind his opponent but more than a full second ahead of the fourth-place competitor.
Peter Park earned a commanding win with a 1:51.05 in the 200 fly, topping his nearest foe by 1.67 seconds. Heading into the mid-meet break, Ross McAuliffe (21.42) and Sean Mathews (21.48) took third and fourth overall in the 50 free behind UIC and UW-Milwaukee swimmers.
In diving action Saturday, Amrit Trewn was Northwestern's top finisher in the 1-meter event with a third-place score of 238.25. He trailed the second-place diver from UW-Milwaukee by a mere .25 of a point in the event, which was won by a competitor from UIC. On the 3-meter springboard, Tanner Nemkov took first place with a 274.60 for the Wildcats.
Coming out of the mid-meet break, sophomore Alexander Ratajczyk won the first dual-meet race of his career with a 46.67 in the 100 free. Sophomore Varun Shivakumar continues to put his stamp on the 200 back as his signature race, whipping a field of 15 in the event with a 1:52.35, 3.57 seconds in front of the second-place swimmer.
Rimkus and Tyler went 1-2 overall for Northwestern in the 200 breast, with Rimkus taking the top spot in 2:04.82 and Tyler coming in with a 2:05.58. Park then won his second event of the night with a 4:32.74 in the 500 free, an incredible 8.74 seconds ahead of his closest competition.
Tyler was the top `Cat in the 100 fly with a second-place overall time of 49.93, then Rimkus turned in his third victory of a long day with a 3:58.12 in the 400 IM, blasting the field by 6.43 seconds. In second place came Park for the Wildcats, then Mattar was fourth overall behind a UIC swimmer.
Northwestern closed out the meet with a third-place overall finish in the 200 free relay, getting a 1:24.57 from the team of Ratajczyk, Butler, Mathews and Tyler.
Northwestern returns to action at 5 p.m. CT Thursday, Nov. 11, at Wisconsin.
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