Northwestern Women Charge Back to Defeat Wisconsin, 157-143

After trailing for much of Friday night's meet against the Wisconsin women at the Norris Aquatics Center, Northwestern charged back to earn its first dual-meet victory of the season, 157-143.

Wisconsin won the opening 200 medley relay in NCAA `B' provisional qualifying fashion, breaking a nine-year-old Norris Aquatics Center record with a 1:41.88. Northwestern (1-2) took both second and third in the race, with the team of Liza Engstrom (Reno, Nev./Robert McQueen), Jenny Wilson (Bethesda, Md./Sidwell Friends School), Meghan Cavanaugh (Anchorage, Alaska/East Anchorage) and Emily Wong (Nepean, Ontario/St. Joseph's) coming in second with a 1:45.46 and the squad of Ellen Grigg (Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Latin School), Kathleen PattersonAlex Kraus (Birmingham, Ala./Vestavia Hills) and Teisha Lightbourne (Nassau, Bahamas/Peddie School (N.J.)) taking third in 1:45.95. (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley),

Jenn Kocsis (Omaha, Neb./Marian) was Northwestern's top finisher in the 1,000 free, coming in second with a 10:13.22.

Kassia Shishkoff (Raleigh, N.C./St. David's School) then won the 200 free for Northwestern with a 1:50.31, besting her nearest competition by an even two seconds. Wisconsin's Maggie Meyer followed with a second pool record on the day for the Badgers, winning the 100 back in 53.01 to break a 12-year-old mark set in 1997 by Stanford's Catherine Fox. Meyer led a three-way sweep of the event for Wisconsin.

Wilson was Northwestern's top finisher in the 100 breast with a second-place time of 1:03.85, then Meredith King (Louisville, Ky./DuPont Manual), Cavanaugh and Hannah Points (Tualatin, Ore./Tualatin) swept the 200 fly with times of 2:03.70, 2:03.85 and 2:04.28, respectively, to bring the Wildcats back within three points in the meet, 67-64.

Wong (23.23) and Lightbourne (23.80) finished 2-3 in the 50 free just before the first break of the meet.

During the first swimming portion of the meet, freshman Felicitas Lenz (Altadena, Calif./Polytechnic School) won the 3-meter springboard diving event with a score of 292.65.

Coming out of the break Wong earned a sprint win with a 50.57 in the 100 free while Lightbourne came in third with a 51.78. Wisconsin fought right back with a victory in the 200 back, with NU's top finisher placing third in the form of Genny Szymanski's (Haines, Alaska/Haines) 2:04.10.

Wilson took second to lead the NU contingent in the 200 breast, coming in with a time of 2:18.99. Shishkoff then blew away the field in the 500 free for her second victory of the meet, winning the event by more than four seconds with a 4:54.56 over teammate Kocsis' 4:58.64. Grigg took fourth for NU with a 5:01.34 to again draw the Wildcats close to the Badgers, this time with the score 125-120 in favor of the visitors.

A second-straight 1-2-4 finish by the 'Cats, this one in the 100 fly, pushed the home team into the lead for the first time in the meet. Cavanaugh led the charge with a 55.79, Marybeth Hall (Brighton, Mich./Brighton) was second with a 57.00 and Katie Eschenburg (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) took fourth with a 57.45 to give NU a 135-129 advantage.

Northwestern came out of the second break of the meet and slammed the door shut on Wisconsin, going 1-2-3 in the 400 IM to take a commanding 151-132 lead. Points swam a season-best 4:23.37 to pace the Wildcats, followed by King (4:23.84) in second and Patterson (4:26.17) in third.

Wisconsin took the final 400 free relay, but NU had by the time secured the meet. Wong, Lightbourne, Cavanaugh and Shishkoff took second in the event for the Wildcats with a 3:23.47, an NCAA `B' provisional cut.

The 1-meter diving event took place during the second portion of the swimming program, with Lenz again coming out on top for the Wildcats, this time with a score of 262.95. Sophomore Carlin Dacey (West Roxbury, Mass./Choate Rosemary Hall) took third with a 240.08 for NU.

Northwestern returns to action at 1 p.m. tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 14, against Illinois-Chicago at the Norris Aquatics Center.



Maggie Meyer has been one of the nation’s top performers in the backstroke all season, but she officially moved to the head of the class Friday.
 
Meyer clocked the NCAA’s top time in the 100-yard backstroke and was part of four event wins to help lead the Wisconsin women’s swimming team in a Big Ten Conference dual meet with Northwestern.
 
The Badgers came up on the short end of a 157-143 score, as they dropped a second Big Ten dual meet for the first time since going 3-2 in league duals in the 1999-2000 season.
 
Beyond the team score, however, the Badgers won a total of eight events, tallied six NCAA championships qualifying marks and set a pair of pool records at Northwestern’s Norris Aquatic Center.
 
As she has most of the season, Meyer led the Badgers’ charge by winning both the 100- and 200-yard backstroke and contributing to UW’s sweep of the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays.
 
In the 100 back, Meyer clocked a season-best and pool-record time of 53.01 seconds to run away with the win, a mark that equals the standard for automatic NCAA championships qualification. Based on times entering the weekend, Meyer’s clocking also is the nation’s fastest mark this season.
 
She followed that performance with a win in the 200 backstroke, winning in a season-best time of 1:57.20 to improve her NCAA consideration mark in the event.
 
Meyer has won all 12 individual races she has competed in this season, recording a total of 10 NCAA qualifying marks in those events in the process.
 
Sophomore Ashley Wanland also doubled up in individual events, as she swept the breaststroke races with a pair of NCAA consideration times.
 
Wanland easily won the 100 breast in a season-best time 1:01.47, finishing with a cushion of nearly 2 1/2 seconds on the rest of the field. She then claimed the 200 breast by more than six seconds with her season-best mark of 2:12.79.
 
Wanland has won nine of the 11 breaststroke races she has entered this season and grabbed second place in the remaining two.
 
Both Meyer and Wanland were key to the Badgers’ sweep of the relay events, as well. The duo joined with junior Karlyn Hougan and sophomore Beckie Thompson to run away with the 200 medley relay in 1:41.88.
 
Meyer and Thompson then combined with senior Rosie Morahan and freshman Laura Miller to take the top spot in the 400 free relay in 3:22.51.
 
Both the Badgers’ winning relay times also were good for NCAA championships consideration.
 
Thompson also was a winner in the 50 free, clocking a time of 23.15, while sophomore Danielle Beckwith claimed victory in the 1,000 free with a time of 10:08.68.
 
Like Meyer, senior Candice Peak was impressive in the backstroke events, finishing second to Meyer in both races. She clocked a season-best time of 56.45 to take the runner-up spot in the 100 back and then trimmed more than 3 1/2 seconds off her previous season-best mark to take second in the 200 back in 2:01.48.
 
The Badgers’ swimmers will now have three weeks to prepare for their next competition, the Texas Invitational, which is set for Dec. 4-6. UW’s divers, however, return to action next weekend in the Arizona Diving Invitational in Tucson, Ariz.