Feb. 24, 2011
2011 Big Ten Championships Website
MINNEAPOLIS -- Northwestern placed two swimmers in Thursday night's championship finals and two more in consolation heats during morning preliminary action at the 2011 Big Ten Championships.
In the 500 free Thursday morning, sophomore Charlie Rimkus (Tustin, Calif./Beckman) found himself nearly in last during the early going of the eighth and final preliminary heat in the event, but he kicked hard at the end to finish third in the heat and fifth overall to qualify for the championship final. His time of 4:20.31 was a career-best and NCAA `B' consideration effort.
Northwestern won both the second and third preliminary heats of the 500 free, with Tony Mattar (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion) capturing the second and Jan Hanulik (Cavisov, Czech Republic/Sportovnia Gymnazium) winning the third. Hanulik in particular had a tremendous swim, cutting more than 12.5 seconds off his seed time to swim an NCAA `B' cut of 4:22.48--a time that also shattered his career-best in the event by almost 10 seconds. He survived through the remaining five heats to secure 14th place overall and a lane in the consolation final for the Wildcats by a mere .38 of a second.
Mattar's `B' time of 4:26.13 left him just shy of the bonus final in 28th position. Junior John Frutiger (Alma, Mich./Alma) came in 32nd overall with a `B' cut of 4:26.79, a time that was 7.2 seconds faster than his seed.
Senior Alex Tyler (Birmingham, Mich./Birmingham Groves) earned a spot in the championship final of the 200 IM with a season-best NCAA `B' time of 1:45.51, qualifying seventh overall. Tyler took fourth in the event a year ago. Classmate Sean Mathews (St. Louis, Mo./Lafayette) nearly joined Tyler after a strong swim and `B' time of 1:46.63, coming in 10th overall to pick up a consolation final berth. Mathews has not traditionally competed in the 200 IM at the Big Ten level; he cut nearly four full seconds from his seed time in the race.
Fifth-year senior Jake Vogel (Canton, Ill./Canton) is the first alternate for the bonus final of the 200 IM after a career swim in the morning. He dropped almost five seconds off his seed time to swim a career-best 1:49.67 and place 25th overall, just .09 of a second away from 24th.
Swimming in his first Big Ten Championships, freshman Dominik Cubelic (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South) ended up .04 of a second outside of the bonus final of the 50 free placing 25th overall as the first alternate in a season-best time of 20.37. A trio of young Wildcats were bunched in the 30s, with transfer Jake Grosser (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles East) placing 33rd in 20.59, Alexander Ratajcazyk (Parlin, N.J./Sayreville War Memorial) taking 35th with a 20.69 and Ross McAuliffe (Shapwick, United Kingdom/Millfield) coming in 37th in 20.76.
The 2011 Big Ten Championships continue at 6:30 p.m. CT tonight, Thursday, Feb. 24, with the first finals session of the meet. Live results and more Championships information is available at the 2011 Big Ten Championships website.
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