No. 8 Northwestern opened its 2006-07 season with a statement in Big Ten dual-meet victory over No. 12 Indiana in Bloomington, 163.5-136.5.  The Wildcat women were unable to hold onto an early lead eventually falling to the host Hoosiers 174-120. 

The Wildcats' 200 medley relay, bolstered by the addition of junior transfer Bruno Barbic (Zagreb, Croatia/V. Gimnazija) from Washington this season, earned a first-place finish in 1:29.42 to open the meet. Seniors Matt Grevers (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) and Mike Alexandrov (Champaign, Ill./Centennial) and junior Kyle Bubolz (Waukesha, Wis./Waukesha North) comprised the relay with Barbic.

Sophomore Eric Nilsson (Weston, Mass./Weston) followed with a 9:20.51 victory in the 1000 free before Alexandrov and junior Jimmy Sourbeer (Des Moines, Iowa/Dowling Catholic) swept the top two spots in the 200 free with times of 1:39.91 and 1:42.49, respectively.

In an outstanding duel in the 100 backstroke, Indiana's Ben Hensen tied NU's two-time defending
NCAA champion Grevers with identical NCAA 'A' standard times of 47.24. Freshman Jake Vogel (Canton,
Ill./Canton) and sophomore Adam Beckman (Kearney, Neb./Kearney) finished third and fourth in the
event for the 'Cats.

After splitting first-place points in the 100 back, Indiana earned its first outright win in the meet with a Pat Penoyar victory in the 100 breast. Sophomore John Franklin (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./North Broward Prep) took second for Northwestern with a 57.32.

Nilsson captured first in the 200 fly with a 1:50.41 before Grevers notched an NCAA 'B' time of 20.07 to win the 50 free. Barbic (20.54) finished third while junior Jon Ehret (Phoenix, Ariz./Brophy College Prep) (21.48) was fourth for the 'Cats.

Indiana won the 100 free, but Northwestern scored the next three swimmers with Barbic in second, Bubolz in third and Sourbeer in fourth. The Hoosiers also captured the 200 backstroke, but Beckman took second and Vogel took third for the Wildcats to limit the point damage.

Alexandrov was first in the 200 breast with an NCAA 'B' time of 1:58.96 before Nilsson won his third event of the meet with a 4:29.41 in the 500 free. Bubolz then made it three event wins in a row for NU with a 48.65 first-place effort in the 100 fly.

Alexandrov closed out the individual events with an NCAA 'B' time of 1:48.90 to win the 200 IM.

Barbic, Grevers, Ehret and Bubolz swam the 200 free relay in 1:21.33 to give Northwestern a huge 4.4 second victory in the final event of the meet.

The Hoosier men will look for a bright spot tomorrow when Arizona State comes to town.  Earlier in the week four members of the team were dismissed following their arrests last weekend. [Related Story]