Jan. 29, 2011
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Northwestern earned a 3-1 record in the five-team, two-day Shamrock Invitational hosted by Notre Dame following a pair of Saturday sessions. NU defeated Denver (258-112), Notre Dame (193.5-176.5) and Iowa (274-93) while falling to No. 18 Ohio State (205-159).
Instead of the invitational-style scoring which was used at NU's six-team TYR Invitational in November, this meet was scored as individual dual meets between all teams. The wins over the Irish and the Hawkeyes were the second of the season for the Wildcats, who defeated Notre Dame January 15 at home and Iowa January 22 on the road.
Holding a lead against all foes following a single Friday night session, the Wildcats opened Saturday's morning session with a third-place overall finish in the 200 medley relay. The team of Liza Engstrom (Reno, Nev./Robert McQueen), Jenny Wilson (Bethesda, Md./Sidwell Friends School), Meghan Cavanaugh (Anchorage, Alaska/East Anchorage) and Taylor Reynolds (St. Louis, Mo./Webster Groves) swam a time of 1:45.22, getting a huge 23.01 final 50 free split from Reynolds to chase down Denver's team for a .17 of a second edge for the third-place points.
Junior Hannah Points (Tualatin, Ore./Tualatin) earned a huge victory in the 400 IM for the Wildcats, holding off a hard charge from a pair of Ohio State swimmers to emerge on top by .11 of a second with a final time of 4:22.77.
In the 100 fly, Cavanaugh and Marybeth Hall (Brighton, Mich./Brighton) came in third and fourth overall for NU, with Cavanaugh swimming a 56.49 and Hall turning in a season-best 56.57.
Ohio State earned big points with a 1-2 finish in the 200 free, with NU's top finishes coming from Jackie Powell (Madison, Wis./James Madison Memorial) in third place with a 1:50.42 and Jacquie Godbe (Rapid City, S.D./Stevens) in fifth with a 1:52.32. Wilson then claimed third overall in the 100 breast with a 1:04.21.
After Northwestern's opponents gained some ground in the 100 back where the Wildcats' top finisher came in 10th, NU again suffered a tough break when its top 800 free relay was disqualified to conclude the morning session and leave the Wildcats with work to do in the afternoon. The NU `B' relay of Cavanaugh, Sheila O'Neill (Dunwoody, Ga./Marist School), Erin Sosdian (The Woodlands, Texas/The Woodlands) and Beth Loe (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington) filled in ably with a fifth-place time of 7:40.03.
In between sessions, freshman diver Cosima Lenz (Altadena, Calif./Polytechnic School) made it 2-for-2 on the springboards, earning a victory in the 1-meter event to go with her 3-meter win on Friday. She earned the victory in style with a career- and NU-season-best score of 297.15.
Also between sessions, Ohio State went 1-2 in the 1,650 freestyle followed by NU's Megan Goss (Brentwood, Tenn./Ravenwood) in third with a time of 16:59.77.
Kicking off the official evening program, Engstrom placed third overall in the 200 back for the Wildcats with a time of 2:02.28. Hall then swam her third season-best time of the weekend to lead NU's 3-4-6 overall result in the 100 free. Hall swam a 51.50 followed by Reynolds' fifth-place 51.60 and Powell's sixth-place 51.77.
Wilson took third in the 200 breast with a 2:19.66 to lead the Wildcats, then Cavanaugh's sixth-place time of 2:05.57 in the 200 fly was tops for the 'Cats during a 6-7-8 overall finish. Points' 2:05.69 was good for seventh and Alex Kraus' (Birmingham, Ala./Vestavia Hills) 2:05.74 was eighth.
Northwestern ended the meet on a strong note, getting a second-place and season-best NCAA `B' cut time of 3:24.21 from Powell, Hall, Engstrom and Reynolds. The race was the fourth season-best time Hall was a part of during the Shamrock Invitational.
Northwestern now is off until the Big Ten Championships Feb. 16-19 in Bloomington, Ind.
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