Jan. 12, 2011
Site: Evanston, Ill. (Norris Aquatics Center)
Score: Notre Dame 160, Northwestern 140
Records: NU (7-3, 1-2 Big Ten), Notre Dame (4-2, 1-0 BIG EAST)
Next NU Event: Jan. 22, 2010 -- at Iowa, 11 a.m. CT
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern honored its five-member senior class Wednesday night prior to its meet against Notre Dame at the Norris Aquatics Center, but the visiting Irish pulled away to leave the pool with a 160-140 victory over the Wildcats.
Northwestern took the lead right out of the gate with a win in the 200 medley relay. Dominik Cubelic (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South), Alex Tyler (Birmingham, Mich./Birmingham Groves), Sean Mathews (St. Louis, Mo./Lafayette) and Jake Grosser (St. Charles, Ill./Saint Charles East) comprised the winning cadre of 'Cats, coming in nearly two full seconds ahead of Notre Dame's top team with a Northwestern-season-best time of 1:30.66.
The Wildcats earned a 1-2 sweep in the first individual event, the 1,650 free. Sophomore Charlie Rimkus (Tustin, Calif./Beckman) got out to a big early lead and cruised home in first place with a 15:45.29 while senior Peter Park (Princeton, N.J./Peddie School) kept pace to finish just behind Rimkus in 15:47.51.
The Irish returned the favor in the 200 free, taking the top two positions after Notre Dame's second-place finisher caught up to NU's John Frutiger (Alma, Mich./Alma) to beat the Wildcat to the wall by .02 of a second. Frutiger's time in the event was 1:41.19.
In the 100 back, Cubelic took second place as the Wildcats' top finisher with a 50.42 before Tyler got NU back on the winning track with a season-best 55.59 to win the 100 breast and put Northwestern on top in the meet, 47-46. Tyler's time was .08 of a second away from an NCAA `B' provisional qualifying standard in the event.
Mathews and junior Tony Mattar (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion) then earned a big 1-2 finish in the 200 fly for the Wildcats. Mathews won going away with a 1:48.76 while Mattar held off a charging Bill Bass of Notre Dame to record a time of 1:51.40, .15 of a second ahead of Bass.
Notre Dame won the 50 free, but the Wildcats came in 2-3-4 to surrender just a single point in the event and enter the first diving break with a 69-62 lead. Grosser swam a 20.90 to come in second -- just .06 of a second behind the winner. Freshman Ross McAuliffe (Shapwick, United Kingdom/Millfield School) came in third with a 21.31 to out-touch teammate Alex Ratajczyk (Parlin, N.J./Sayreville War Memorial) by .01 of a second.
On the 3-meter springboard, Notre Dame swept the top three positions with Tanner Nemkov's (Littleton, Colo./Heritage) NU-season-best score of 301.55 good for fourth place for NU.
Swimming resumed with a 1-3-4 Notre Dame win in the 100 free. Cubelic broke up the Irish racers with his second-place time of 46.07. Notre Dame then leapt out to a commanding 108-80 lead after a 1-2-3 sweep of the 200 backstroke.
Tyler won his second event in the next race, the 200 breast. Tyler's NU-season-best time of 2:01.66 was 4.10 seconds faster than his nearest competition, but the Irish limited NU's point gain to one by taking second-through-fourth.
In a critical race in the 500 free, Notre Dame's Frankie Dyer and Rimkus engaged in a head-to-head battle for the entire 20 laps, pushing each other to NCAA `B' cuts in the event. Dyer maintained a slim advantage at the end that Rimkus could not overcome, winning for the Irish in 4:27.80 compared to Rimkus' 4:27.94. Mattar and Frutiger came in third and fourth, respectively, for the 'Cats to again limit the damage to one point in the team standings.
Mathews led a 1-3 Northwestern finish in the 100 fly heading into the second diving break, swimming a 49.61 while Park came in third with a 51.57.
In the 1-meter springboard event during the second diving break, Notre Dame again swept the top-three positions while Nemkov again was NU's best diver with a season-best score, this time tallying a 281.48. The Irish sweep secured the meet win for the visitors.
In the 200 IM, Tyler won his third race on his senior night with a dominating 1:49.75, leading second-place Rimkus' time of 1:53.52. Rimkus earned that second-place finish with a blazing 25.27 final 50 free split, chasing down Bass' 27.07 to out-touch the Irish swimmer by .02 of a second.
Northwestern closed the meet with an exciting .01 of a second win in the 400 free relay. The Wildcats' team of Grosser, Ratajczyk, Cubelic and Mathews out-touched their Irish opponents in a race that was a dead heat the entire time, finishing with a 3:03.40.
Prior to the meet, NU honored seniors Brian Kerr (East Grand Rapids, Mich./East Grand Rapids), Mathews, Park, Tyler and Jake Vogel (Canton, Ill./Canton). Northwestern returns to action at 11 a.m. CT Saturday, Jan. 22, at Iowa in a combined dual meet with the Wildcats' women's squad.
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