Jordan Wilimovsky shattered Eric Nilsson's school record in the 500 free by 1.69 seconds in Thursday morning's Big Ten Championships preliminary heats.
Thursday Preliminary Heat Results
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Junior Jordan Wilimovsky (Malibu, Calif./Malibu) annihilated the Northwestern school record in the 500 freestyle Thursday morning to highlight NU's preliminary swims at the 2015 Big Ten Championships hosted by Iowa at the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center.
Wilimovsky lowered his previous career-best in the 500 free by 4.24 seconds to swim an NCAA `B' provisional qualifying time of 4:15.62 and qualify second overall for Thursday night's championship final. His time bested Eric Nilsson's 2009 school record in the race by 1.69 seconds. The current U.S. National Team member in open water swimming and the 1,500-meter freestyle finished behind only Anders Nielsen of Michigan in the prelims; Nielsen set a pool record with a 4:14.84.
Wilimovsky's performance was the finishing touch of a fantastic first event for Northwestern at the meet; all five Wildcats who competed in the 500 free dropped more than four seconds from their career-best times entering the Championships.
Sophomore Charlie Cole (Bernardsville, N.J./Bernards), who Wednesday night swam the third-fastest 200 free in school history to lead off NU's 800 free relay, swam the fifth-fastest 500 free Thursday morning to qualifying 12th overall for the evening's consolation final. His NCAA `B' cut of 4:20.57 represented a drop of 5.93 seconds from his previous career-best in the race.
Though he did not earn a second swim, sophomore Jonathan Lieberman (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie) cut nearly five seconds from his career-best in the 500 free, as well, to touch in 4:26.58, ending up 28th overall in the morning prelims. Not to be outdone, freshman Jonathan Blansfield (Westport, Conn./Staples) dropped exactly 8.0 seconds from his season-best at his first-career Big Ten meet for a 40th-place 4:30.54 while sophomore Stephen Shull (Evanston, Ill./Homeschooled) cut near six seconds from his career-best in the race for a 44th-position 4:31.55.
Senior Andrew Seitz (Pleasanton, Calif./Amador Valley) was Northwestern's lone representative in the 200 IM Thursday morning; he swam a career-low 1:51.15 that was more than two seconds better than his previous best to finish 57th.
Freshman Almog Olshtein's (Haifa, Israel/Haifa) first-career individual Big Ten Championships swim was an NCAA `B' cut of 19.87 in the 50 free that placed him 10th overall as the second seed for Thursday night's consolation final. His time makes him the fifth-fastest 50 freestyle racer in school history.
Classmate Gage Kohner (Boca Raton, Fla./Boca Raton Community) was NU's next best swimmer in the event with a 20.52 to place 38th
One-meter diving preliminaries will begin later Thursday afternoon with the finals session getting underway at 6:30 p.m. CT.
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