Iowa Men, #23 Northwestern Women Victorious

Northwestern Men

Northwestern made a big comeback to take a late lead Saturday on senior day at the Norris Aquatics Center, but Iowa swept the top two spots in the final relay of the meet to defeat the Wildcats, 149.5-144.5.

The loss drops NU to 4-4 overall on the dual-meet season.

Prior to the beginning of the meet, Northwestern honored seniors Chris Doman(Pittsburgh, Pa./St. Charles Prep (Columbus, Ohio)) and Kalister Harmon (Olympia, Wash./Capital). More than 600 people attended the Chipotle BIG MEET, where the first 50 students to arrive received a free burrito coupon and one lucky student earned an entire quarter's supply.

The team of Alex Tyler (Birmingham, Mich./Birmingham Groves), Nathan Butler (Cincinnati, Ohio/Turpin), Brian Kerr (East Grand Rapids, Mich./East Grand Rapids) and Sean Mathews (St. Louis, Mo./Lafayette) roared out to a big lead in the opening 200 medley relay, closing out a full-second margin of victory with a 1:31.34.

Freshman Charlie Rimkus (Tustin, Calif./Beckman) cut more than six seconds off his season-best time to win the 1,000 free going away, logging a time of 9:20.31. Teammate Peter Park (Princeton, N.J./Peddie School) was second for NU.

After Iowa swept the top two positions in the 200 free, Tyler finished in a dead heat for second place in the 100 back with a season-best time of 50.58. Varun Shivakumar (Hoffman Estates, Ill./Fremd) was fourth with a season-best 51.83.

Butler charged ahead in the 100 breast to win with a season-best effort of 56.06, winning the race by more than 1.5 seconds. Rimkus then led a 1-2-3 sweep for Northwestern in the 200 fly, swimming a 1:51.50 to out-touch teammate Tony Mattar's (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion) second-place time of 1:51.68. Park came in third in 1:53.51.

Iowa turned the tables in the 50 free, taking the top two positions before Mathews came in with a third-place time of 20.63. He narrowly missed out on second by .01 of a second.

During the first half of the meet, Harmon won the 3-meter springboard diving event on his senior day with a 310.58. He was third on the 1-meter board during the second-half portion of the meet.

Coming out of the break, Mathews took second in the 100 free as Northwestern's top finisher, then Iowa swept the top two spots in the 200 back.

Tyler put the Wildcats back on the winning track with a 2:03.12 to capture the 200 breast by more than a full second. Butler (third) and Jay Calhoun (Palos Verdes Peninsula, Calif./Palos Verdes Peninsula) in fourth also scored points for NU in the race.

With Northwestern trailing, Rimkus and Mattar went 1-2 in the 500 freestyle to pull the Wildcats within two points, 120.5-118.5. Rimkus swam a 4:34.92 and Mattar a season-best 4:36.61, followed by John Frutiger (Alma, Mich./Alma) garnering huge fourth-place points with a 4:41.20.

Mathews then pushed the Wildcats on top with a season-best 48.99 in the 100 fly, beating Iowa's Paul Gordon to the wall by .11 of a second to win the event. Kerr and Doman took fourth and fifth to win three more points, providing NU's leading margin of three heading into the second break of the meet.

Tyler rocked the field on his way to victory in the 200 IM, swimming a 1:49.72 to win by nearly four seconds. Park took fourth and Mattar fifth to give the Wildcats an eight-point cushion heading into the final relay.

With Zombie Nation and hundreds of yelling fans raising the noise level inside Norris to deafening levels, Northwestern needed to win or finish 2-3 in the 400 free relay to capture the meet. Iowa, however, pulled off the 1-2 sweep to win the meet by five points, 149.5-144.5.

Northwestern returns to action Jan. 29-30 in a quad-dual against Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State in Columbus, Ohio.

Northwestern Women

No. 23 Northwestern honored seven seniors Saturday in its final dual meet of the 2009-10 season, then jumped into the Norris Aquatics Center pool and cruised by Iowa, 173.5-121.5.

Northwestern concludes the dual-meet season with an 8-3 record with the win, and now is off to prepare for the Big Ten Championships Feb. 17-20 in West Lafayette, Ind. For ticket information for the Big Ten meet, link to Purduesports.com.

Prior to the meet, Northwestern honored seniors Mary Beth Francis (San Diego, Calif./Mission Viejo), Jenn Kocsis (Omaha, Neb./Marian), Tania Lyerly (Libetyville, Ill./Libertyville), Rachel Rys (Goleta, Calif./Dos Pueblos), Kassia Shishkoff (Raleigh, N.C./St. David's School), Genny Szymanski (Haines, Alaska/Haines) and Emily Wong (Nepean, Ontario/St. Joseph's). More than 600 people attended the Chipotle BIG MEET, where the first 50 students to arrive received a free burrito coupon and one lucky student earned an entire quarter's supply. Free t-shirts also were given out as part of Wildcat Women's Sport Weekend.

Northwestern opened the meet with a second-place finish in the 200 medley relay. Liza Engstrom (Reno, Nev./Robert McQueen), Kathleen Patterson (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley), Katie Eschenburg (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) and Taylor Reynolds (St. Louis, Mo./Webster Groves) comprised NU's top team that had a time of 1:44.61. Iowa took a half-second lead into the final 50 yard sprint and Reynolds was able to close much of the gap, but fell just .17 of a second shy at the wall.

In the first individual event, Kocsis swam a season-best time of 10:10.36 in the 1,000 free to crush the field by almost 19 full seconds. Teammate Ellen Grigg (Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Latin School) was second for the Wildcats with a 10:29.49.

Wong won the 200 free for Northwestern with a 1:51.46, leading a three-way sweep of the top spots. She was followed by Meredith King (Louisville, Ky./duPont Manual) in second and Meghan Cavanaugh (Anchorage, Alaska/East Anchorage) in third.

Iowa then won the top two spots in the 100 back and again captured first in the 100 breast, with Jenny Wilson (Bethesda, Md./Sidwell Friends School) coming in second with a 1:04.62 to led NU.

Shishkoff and Rys took 1-2 in the 200 fly, each swimming season-best times in the event. Shishkoff turned in an NU-season-best 2:02.09 while Rys had a 2:05.36.

Wong won her second race of the day with a 23.39 effort in the 50 free. Eschenburg tied for third place in the race with a 24.01.

During the first half of the meet, Iowa won the 3-meter springboard diving event, followed by three Wildcats. Carlin Dacey (West Roxbury, Mass./Choate Rosemary Hall) was second with a 276.00, Felicitas Lenz (Altadena, Calif./Polytechnic School) third with a 267.68 and Lyerly fourth with a 246.00 to score points on her senior day.

Wong made it a trifecta of wins on her senior day with a 50.92 in the 100 free to claim victory. Reynolds (52.44) and Katie McCullough (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central) took third and fourth, respectively, for the Wildcats.

Szymanski notched a senior day victory with a 2:01.41 in the 200 back followed by King and Jacquie Godbe (Rapid City, S.D./Stevens) in third and fourth.

Wilson won the 200 breast with a time of 2:19.44, followed by Hannah Points (Tualatin,
Ore./Tualatin) in second with a 2:22.59. The Wildcats again went 1-2 in the next event, getting a win from Shishkoff (4:53.81) in the 500 free and second-place effort from Kocsis (5:02.66).

Eschenburg, Rys and Kiersten Cooley (Goleta, Calif./Dos Pueblos) went 1-2-3 in the 100 fly before the final break of the meet, with Eschenburg's season-best 56.11 leading the way.

Coming out of the break, King, Points and Godbe swept the 200 individual medley, with King's winning time a season-best 2:06.41. The team of Caitlin Masney (Hong Kong, China/Chinese International School), Engstrom, Eschenburg and Reynolds then won the 400 free relay to close the meet.