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Purdue 114, Northwestern 72 No. 23 Minnesota 130, Northwestern 56 University Aquatic Center Minneapolis, Minn. Day One Results |
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MINNEAPOLIS -- Following the first day of action in the final tune-up for the 2015 Big Ten Championships, Northwestern trails No. 23 Minnesota, 130-56, and Purdue, 114-72, in a two-day, double dual meet hosted by the Gophers at the University Aquatic Center.
The meet will conclude with the second half of the meet program at noon CT tomorrow, Saturday, Jan. 31.
Northwestern began the meet on a strong note with a 1:30.25 and a victory in the 200 medley relay. Freshman Alex Snarski (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) led off followed by seniors Uula Auren (Helsinki, Finland/Mäkelänrinteen Lukio) and Mark Ferguson (Perth, Australia/John XXIII) before freshman Almog Olshtein (Haifa, Israel/Haifa) finished by touching in 20.02 for the fastest anchor leg in the pool.
In a duel between two of the top distance swimmers in the conference, Minnesota's CJ Smith swam the fastest 1,000 free time in the Big Ten this season to top Northwestern's Jordan Wilimovsky (Malibu, Calif./Malibu), who currently is slated to enter next month's Big Ten Championships as the top seed in the 1,650 free. Friday, Smith touched in 9:04.90 while Wilimovsky swam a 9:09.62.
Sophomores Charlie Cole (Bernardsville, N.J./Bernards) and Jonathan Lieberman (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie) were sixth and seventh overall in the 200 free, then Ferguson went a 49.75 in the 100 back to come in second behind just a Golden Gopher. Sophomore Andy Jovanovic (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy) and Snarski were fifth and sixth in the race to give the Wildcats a 1-3-4 result against Purdue.
Auren's 56.47 in the 100 breast placed him sixth in the field behind three Gophers and two Boilermakers, then Grant Halsall (Laxey, Isle of Man, Great Britain) and Wilimovsky finished 6-7 in the 200 fly for NU.
The freshman Olshtein gave Northwestern its first individual event victory in the 50 free with pure racing, coming back from a deficit at the turn to touch in 20.37 and win by one one-hundredth of a second. Classmate Gage Kohner (Boca Raton, Fla./Boca Raton Community) finished sixth overall in 21.17 with Jovanovic in eighth in 21.25.
In the 200 IM, Halsall was NU's top finisher in eighth position. During day one diving, senior John Andrade (Avon, Conn./Notre Dame) was NU's top finisher on the platform with a 285.90.
The first day concluded with the 800 free relay, where Cole, Ferguson, Lieberman and Wilimovsky swam a 6:45.61 to place third overall behind the `A' teams from their two opponents.
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