Jan. 14, 2012
Results
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Northwestern traveled to Notre Dame for its final road meet of the regular season, winning nine of the 14 swimming events but still falling to the Fighting Irish in a tight meet, 157-143.
While the Wildcats held the advantage in reaching the wall first, the Fighting Irish were able to use their depth and diving prowess to mitigate the damage when Northwestern won while capitalizing on points when they were able to win an event.
The Wildcats began the meet with a victory in the 200 medley relay, getting a more-than-one-second marign of victory with a 1:30.59 from the team of Dominik Cubelic (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South), Uula Auren (Helsinki, Finland/Mäkelänrinteen Lukio), Jake Grosser (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles East) and Matthew Margritier (Leawood, Kan./Rockhurst).
Junior Charlie Rimkus (Tustin, Calif./Beckman) shaved nearly eight full seconds off his season-best time in the 1,000 free to win the race with a 9:24.27, touching the wall 5.53 seconds ahead of the nearest Irish competitor. In the 200 free, senior John Frutiger (Alma, Mich./Alma) was second place overall in 1:40.10 to lead the Wildcats before Cubelic won the 100 back in a time of 49.54.
Auren pulled away from the field early to race to a 55.89 winning time in the 100 breast, then senior Tony Mattar (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion) made it five wins in the first six events with a 1:51.67 to take a comfortable first in the 200 fly.
Notre Dame broke the streak in the 50 free when Kevin Overholt edged Grosser's season-best 20.88 by a mere .04 of a second, but Grosser led a convoy of Wildcats placing second-through-fifth. Margritier (20.99) was third, Toni Valcic (Ribnica, Slovenia/Gimnazija Ledina) (21.05) took fourth and Alexander Ratajczyk (Parlin, N.J./Sayreville War Memorial) (21.19) was fifth.
Notre Dame swept the top three spots on the 1-meter springboard, but Northwestern's top diver in the event -- Nick Pinkerton (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) -- scored a season-best 303.90 to take fourth overall. Overholt then again won a sprint free race by taking the 100 free over Margritier (46.08) in second and Ratajczyk (46.27) in third.
Cubelic swept the backstroke events with a season-best 1:51.48 to win the 200 back. He got out to an over one full second lead after the first 50 before holding off a second half charge from a Notre Dame challenger to win by .11 of a second.
Auren likewise swept the breaststroke events with a season-best 2:02.83 to win the 200 breast. Frutiger then was second overall in the 500 free to lead Northwestern with a 4:35.10.
Grosser came up with a 50.22 to win the 100 fly while freshman Mark Ferguson (Perth, Australia/John XXIII) was third for the Wildcats in a season-best 50.53.
The Irish vaulted back into the lead in the meet with another top-three sweep of the diving boards, this time in the 3-meter springboard competition that led into the 400 IM. In that race, Rimkus (3:57.84) and Mattar (4:03.37) went 1-2 for the Wildcats, but a Notre Dame win in the final 400 free relay provided for the final margin of victory. NU's team of Margritier, Cubelic, Ratajczyk and Chase Stephens (Madison, Wis./Edgewood) swam a 3:02.65 in that race.
Northwestern returns to action at 11 a.m. CT Saturday, Jan. 21, against Iowa at the Norris Aquatics Center in Evanston. Following the meet, the NU swimming and diving programs will host their Endowment Campaign kickoff event at 6 p.m. CT at the James Allen Center on the Evanston Campus.
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