 |
||
 |
Northwestern 137, Milwaukee 98 Norris Aquatics Center Evanston, Ill. Final Results |
|
EVANSTON, Ill. -- After honoring its six-member senior class prior to the final home meet of the season Friday against Milwaukee, Northwestern went out and won every single event to roll to a 137-98 victory against the Panthers.
Northwestern improves to 7-3 on the dual-meet season with its win. The two teams competed in a less-common 13-event order instead of the more familiar 16-event order, with the 100 yard backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke cut from the program.
On Senior Day, Northwestern put an all-senior relay in the `A' position of the opening 400 medley relay and saw it win handily. Mark Ferguson (Perth, Australia/John XXIII) led off with the backstroke leg before Aaron Sears (Neenah, Minn./Neenah) swam an inspired 100 breast split that was one of the best of his career. William Rosler (Bexley, Ohio/Columbus Academy) handled butterfly duties before Uula Auren (Helsinki, Finland/Mäkelänrinteen Lukio) brought it home for the victory.
NU also claimed second in the race courtesy of Andy Jovanovic (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy), Van Donkersgoed (Eden Prairie, Minn./Minnehaha Academy), senior Andrew Seitz (Pleasanton, Calif./Amador Valley) and Joao Steiner (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil/The Bolles School).
Of all the competitors, NU diving enjoyed perhaps the best afternoon. Sophomore Andrew Cramer (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral) swept both boards, securing NCAA Zone Diving cuts on both. He achieved a 314.78 in the 1-meter event and a season-best 358.80 on the 3-meter to claim those victories. Senior John Andrade (Avon, Conn./Notre Dame) took third on both boards -- picking up a season-best and Zone cut of 325.05 in the 3-meter event -- and sophomore Reed Dillon (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence Central) grabbed fourth on the 1-meter and fifth on the 3-meter.
In the 1,000 free to begin Friday's individual action, Charlie Cole's (Bernardsville, N.J./Bernards) season-best time of 9:28.25 was good enough to break a late dead heat with Milwaukee's Max Gatzke for the win in the first individual race.
Jordan Wilimovsky (Malibu, Calif./Malibu) topped Milwaukee's Tim Halverson by over a second to win the 200 free for the Wildcats while Alex Snarski (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) and Jack Morris (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) each grabbed points with third- and fourth-place finishes, each.
Freshman Almog Olshtein (Haifa, Israel/Haifa) swam to a four-tenths of a second victory in the 50 free with a 20.52, then Grant Halsall (Laxey, Isle of Man, Great Britain) and Jonathan Lieberman (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie) won the 200 IM with a 1-2 result for the Wildcats.
Following the meet's first break, Jovanovic and Cole finished 1-2 in the 200 butterfly before Olshtein picked up his second win of the meet with a 45.82 in the 100 free. Gage Kohner (Boca Raton, Fla./Boca Raton Community) took third for the Wildcats in that race.
Ferguson swam a season-best 1:51.77 to win the 200 back, leading second-place Wilimovsky and third-place Nick Petersen (Thiensville, Wis./Homestead).
In the 500 free, the sophomore Lieberman nearly matched his AT&T U.S. Winter Nationals time of 4:33.52 with a 4:33.78 to win by nearly six full seconds. Donkersgoed then completed the individual events with a 2:05.85 win in the 200 breast while Sears continued his great day with a season-best 2:08.76 to place second.
Olshtein, Jovanovic, Petersen and Seitz then completed the sweep of every event by touching first in 1:23.30.
Northwestern returns to action at 11 a.m. CT Saturday, Jan. 24, at Iowa.
Be the first to know what's going on with the 'Cats -- Follow @NU_Sports on Twitter, become a fan of Northwestern Athletics on Facebook, subscribe to the NU Sports Express e-newsletter and sign up to receive promotional text alerts for the latest news, schedule updates and video and to interact with NU. For more information on following specific Northwestern teams online, visit our Social Media page!