Northwestern won six events and recorded two NCAA `B' provisional qualifying times Sunday during the final day of its home TYR Invitational at the Norris Aquatics Center.
With its focus squarely on U.S. Nationals in two weeks, Northwestern still raced to record a trio of NCAA `B' cuts during the three-day meet, with two of them going to junior Jordan Wilimovsky (Malibu, Calif./Malibu), who positioned himself as an early contender once again for the NCAA title in the 1,650 freestyle. Freshman Alex Snarski (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) grabbed the other in the 100 backstroke.
Not to be outdone was sophomore Andrew Cramer (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral) on the diving boards. The sophomore swept all three diving competitions at the meet and extended his current season-best and NCAA Zone cut in the 3-meter event Saturday.
Michigan State took first place in the meet followed by Northwestern in second, Saint Louis in third, UIC in fourth and Truman State in fifth.
Northwestern now shifts its focus to U.S. Nationals, where 11 Wildcats will represent the University Dec. 3-6 in Greensboro, N.C. NU then will embark on its winter training trip following fall exams and resume collegiate competition in January.
Sunday's Preliminary Session
Northwestern earned seven second swims in the day's first event, the 50 fly. Freshman Almog Olshtein (Haifa, Israel/Haifa) continued his dominance in the sprint events at this meet by qualifying second overall in 22.42. Mark Ferguson (Perth, Australia/John XXIII) in fourth and Jack Morris (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) in sixth joined him in the championship final. Uula Auren (Helsinki, Finland/Mäkelänrinteen Lukio) earned the top overall seed in the consolation final with a ninth-place 23.01 with teammate Joao Steiner (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil/The Bolles School) also making that heat with a 14th place finish.
Freshman Gage Kohner (Boca Raton, Fla./Boca Raton Community) won the top seed in the bonus final of the 50 fly and Andrew Seitz (Pleasanton, Calif./Amador Valley) will swim it as well following a 22nd-place morning time.
Snarski won the top qualification spot in the 200 back by almost two full seconds when he touched in 1:46.93. Andy Jovanovic (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy) took third in the prelim while Grant Halsall (Laxey, Isle of Man, GBR) was seventh overall to give the Wildcats three entries in the championship final.
Sophomore Jonathan Lieberman (Eden Praire, Minn./Eden Prairie) narrowly missed out on the `A' heat and will be the `B' final's top entry following a 1:52.79 in the 200 back. Freshman Nick Petersen (Thiensville, Wis./Homestead) also made the consolation final with a 15th-place 1:55.28.
Olshtein was the lone Wildcat to make it through to the `A' final of the 100 free after swimming a fifth-place qualification time of 45.96. Kohner, Charlie Cole (Bernardsville, N.J./Bernards) and Morris qualified for the `B' final in 10th, 11th and 15th, respectively, while Steiner and William Rosler (Bexley, Ohio/Columbus Academy) moved on to the 100 free bonus final.
All three Wildcats in the 200 breast advanced to scoring lanes for Sunday afternoon. Van Donkersgoed (Eden Prairie, Minn./Minnehaha Academy) qualified second overall for NU with a 2:04.48 behind a super fast 2:01.21 from MSU's breaststroke specialist Alec Kandt. Both Auren (11th) and Aaron Sears (Neenah, Minn./Neenah) (16th) made the scoring `B' final of the event
Northwestern sent six to Sunday afternoon scoring lanes during 50 back preliminaries, including four to the championship heat. Jovanovic and Ferguson qualified 1-2 overall with times of 22.97 and 23.46 followed by Snarski in fourth and Halsall in sixth. Both Petersen in 11th and Rosler in 16th made the `B' final.
Four of Northwestern's five entries in the 200 fly qualified for the consolation final of the event, and all did so in a row. Lieberman led the Wildcats in 11th followed by Wilimovsky in 12th, Donkersgoed in 13th and Seitz in 14th. Stephen Shull (Evanston, Ill./Homeschooled) made the bonus final in 21st position.
Northwestern and Saint Louis competed in a 5-meter platform diving competition during the morning preliminary sessions, and the Wildcats swept the top three positions. Cramer made it a clean sweep of all three diving events with a winning score of 288.68 followed by Reed Dillon (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence Central) in second with a 241.73 and John Andrade (Avon, Conn./Avon) in third with a 240.00.
Sunday's Finals Session
The last finals session of the TYR began with a fierce battle in the 50 fly championship final won by Michigan State's Jacob Moore with Olshtein in second and Ferguson in third. Morris ended up sixth behind two more Spartans swimmers. In the consolation final, Auren eked out a two one-hundredth of a second victory to place ninth overall while Steiner ended up 12th and Kohner 14th. Seitz cut .26 of a second from his prelim time to swim a 24.00 in the bonus final.
Snarski got the first NCAA `B' cut of his college career while winning the 200 back, touching the wall in 1:46.33 to win by 1.2 seconds. Jovanovic came in third with a 1:48.34 and Halsall was fifth in 1:50.00.
Lieberman ran away with the `B' final of the 200 back, coming home in 1:50.69 to win by 2.14 seconds over a Saint Louis entry. Petersen was 12th overall for NU.
In the 100 free, Wildcats won all three heats. Olshtein won the title tilt for Northwestern with a time of 44.63 that was 1.33 seconds faster than his morning swim, moving him up from fifth after qualification to the top of the podium. In the consolation final, Kohner touched first in 46.21 while Morris was 13th. The bonus final saw Steiner reach the wall first with a 46.89. Rosler (20th) and Shull (22nd) also competed in that `C' heat. Cole scratched his 100 free berth to concentrate on the 1,650, which was the very next event.
In that 1,650 event, U.S. National Team distance swimmer Wilimovsky lapped his first opponent before the halfway point of the race and continued to pull away until he touched in a low NCAA `B' cut time of 15:00.91, tied for the third-fastest time in the nation following Sunday. His time was so fast that the second-place swimmer, Michigan State's Jon Burke, touched 25.06 seconds after Wilimovsky and also received an NCAA `B' cut for his effort.
NU's Cole placed fifth overall in the 1,650 free with a 15:52.45 while Blansfield was ninth in 16:13.52.
Donkersgoed used his 200 breast championship final berth to swim a 2:03.71 and take fourth place. Auren was 10th overall after placing second in the consolation final in 2:05.89 while Sears earned a point with a 16th-place finish.
Jovanovic and Ferguson went 1-2 in the 50 back for Northwestern in the championship final while Halsall and Snarski were fourth and sixth, respectively, for a very strong Wildcats showing in the heat. Petersen had the good times rolling with a relatively comfortable win in the consolation final; Rosler also grabbed a point for NU in that heat with a 16th-place finish.
With no Northwestern swimmer in the 200 fly `A' heat, Wilimovsky was Northwestern's top finisher with a victory in the consolation heat via a 1:53.63. Lieberman followed in 12th, Seitz was 13th and Donkersgoed 16th.
In the final 400 free relay, Michigan State held a slight edge on Northwestern's team of Jovanovic, Ferguson, Kohner and Olshtein entering the final leg, but Olshtein entered the pool and shut the door with a 43.55 anchor leg to give NU the win, 2:58.52 to 2:58.85.
Three more pool records fell and Northwestern notched five more NCAA `B' provisional qualification times Sunday on the final day of its home TYR Invitational to conclude a wildly successful weekend with a team victory over the seven-squad field.
Ellen Stello (Shorewood, Wis./Shorewood) broke the Norris Aquatic Center pool record while notching an NCAA `B' time in the 200 fly while Annika Winsnes (Singapore/United World College) shattered the pool 100 free record as the leadoff leg of a pool record 400 free relay. Stello, Winsnes, Lauren Abruzzo (Denver, Colo./Kent Denver) and Lacey Locke (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) and all had `B' cuts as well Sunday.
Those efforts gave Northwestern four total pool records and 11 NCAA `B' qualification standards at the meet. Friday, NU took down at 17-year-old pool record in the 400 medley relay prior to Stello' stellar Sunday.
Northwestern cruised to victory in the points race, compiling 1,287.5 points to greatly outdistance Michigan's State's second-place total of 856. Air Force landed in third place overall (614.5), UIC blazed to fourth (358), Saint Louis took fifth (298.5), Truman State was sixth (279.5) and Northern Iowa -- competing this weekend with only divers -- was a technical seventh.
Northwestern now shifts its focus to fall exams and its winter training trip. Prior to that, a quintet of Wildcats will head to U.S. Nationals Dec. 3-6 in Greensboro, N.C.
Sunday's Preliminary Session
Northwestern's Sunday morning started well with all four Wildcats entered in the 50 fly earning berths in the championship final. Julia Pratt (Vincennes, Ind./Vincennes Rivet) qualified second overall with a 25.09 while Winsnes, Valerie Nubbe (Huntsville, Ala./Huntsville) and Stello advanced in sixth through eighth.
One day after notching an NCAA `B' cut in the 100 back, Locke did so in the 200 back as well to qualify first overall for the evening final with a 1:58.68. Melissa Postoll (Acworth, Ga./Kennesaw Mountain), in third, Ellen Anderson (Montgomery Village, Md./Gaithersburg), in fifth and Jackie Doyle (Danville, Calif./San Ramon Valley), in seventh, also made it through to the championship final.
Senior Madeleine Klichowski (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy) won the top seed in the consolation final with a 2:05.08 and will swim alongside teammate Chelsea Soderholm (Madison, Wis./Madison East), who was 12th overall after the morning.
Winsnes swam a career-best 50.08 in the 100 free to qualify first overall for the championship heat with nearly a full second margin over her teammate Aja Malone (Acworth, Ga./Allatoona), who was second. Mary Warren (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) finished third, Maddy Sims (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove) fourth and Anna Keane (Edmonds, Wash./Meadowdale) fifth to give NU a top-five sweep of the qualification spots in the event. For good measure, sophomore Lacey Smith (Boulder, Colo./Fairview) took seventh in a dead-heat to also make the `A' final.
Nubbe ended up just three one-hundredths of a second from the championship final herself and instead will headline the `B' final following a 52.09. Both Katherine Senseman (Terre Haute, Ind./Terre Haute South Vigo) (17th) and Erika Elliott (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) (20th) earned second swims in the bonus final of the 100 free.
Julianne Kurke (Atlanta, Ga./Parkview) continued her strong TYR Invitational with a second-place overall qualification in the 200 breast, touching in a time of 2:16.46. Sophomore Georgie Pettibone (Santa Rosa, Calif./Analy) had a career-best effort in her preliminary heat, touching in 2:19.68 to join Kurke in the championship final via a sixth-place result.
Sophomore Katie Branch (Phoenix, Ariz./Horizon Honors), NU's lone other entry into the 200 breast, qualified 11th overall for a lane in the consolation final.
Four Wildcats made the 50 back championship final led by Locke in second and Senseman in third. Postoll in fifth and Doyle in sixth rounded out that NU quartet in the `A' final. Klichowksi and Karen Turner (Lake Oswego, Ore./Lakeridge) both earned berths in the consolation final while Soderholm picked up a second swim in the bonus heat via an 18th-place overall qualification.
In the 200 fly, where Stello has been a sorcerer thus far in 2014-15, the sophomore continued her dominance with a first-place overall qualification swim of 1:59.42 to take the top spot by more than two seconds with an NCAA `B' cut time and her first-career sub 2:00 swim in the event. Emily Launer (DeKalb, Ill./Rosary) (fourth), Malone (sixth) and Sims (seventh) followed for championship final lanes.
Pettibone also notched a scoring lane with an 11th-place 2:06.88 to make the consolation final.
A 5-meter platform diving event was held during Sunday's morning preliminaries and Northwestern's entries were the lone competitors in the field. Freshman Mashal Hashem (Potomac, Md./Winston Churchill) got the best of her classmate Monique Demaisip (Norwalk, Calif./Gahr), 186.68 to 180.83.
Sunday's Finals Session
Abruzzo and Sydney Modeas (East Amherst, N.Y./Clarence) started Northwestern's evening session off with a 2-3 finish in the 1,650 freestyle. Abruzzo notched an NCAA `B' provisional qualifying time of 16:28.71 to lead the Wildcats in second place while Modeas touched in 16:40.74. Anderson gave NU sixth-place points with a 16:53.38 while Launer ended up ninth in 17:13.11.
Pratt touched second to lead Northwestern in the 50 fly finals with Stello fourth and Nubbe eighth. Winsnes scratched from her championship final lane to concentrate on her top seed in the 100 free.
Locke lowered her previous NCAA `B' provisional qualifying time from the morning 200 back to 1:57.96, winning by a quite comfortable 3.06 second margin over her teammate Postoll's 2:01.02 (that in and of itself was a 1.50 second drop from morning to afternoon for Postoll). Anderson placed fourth overall and Doyle came in eighth.
The senior Klichowski won the `B' final of the 200 back with a 2:05.35 while Soderholm got 11th-place points with a 2:05.71.
In the 100 free championship final, Winsnes lowered her career-best time yet again, this time reaching NCAA `B' cut territory. Her first-career sub 50:00 time in the event saw her touch in 49.98 to lead a 1-2-3 sweep for the Wildcats. Warren was second in 50.91 and Keane was third in 51.13 followed by Smith in fifth and Nubbe in eighth. Nubbe earned a championship lane after both Malone and Sims scratched the finals.
Senseman finished 11th overall after her swim in the consolation final while Elliott was 22nd following her bonus heat effort.
After slightly breaking her career best in the 200 breast in the morning, Pettibone annihilated it in the afternoon, cutting 2.24 more seconds away to touch in a fourth-place overall time of 2:17.44. She flipped the script on her upperclassmen teammate Kurke, who placed sixth overall. Branch was 12th following her swim in the `B' final.
Locke earned her second individual win of the day Sunday when she reached the wall three one-hundredths of a second ahead of a Michigan State swimmer in the 50 back. Postoll (third), Senseman (fourth) and Doyle (sixth) followed. Klichowski was 11th overall and Turner 12th after the consolation final while Soderholm's second-place finish in the bonus heat gave her an 18th-place result overall.
Stello went deeper in the afternoon 200 fly than she did in the morning, so deep that she brought the down the pool record of 1:58.97 with a `B' cut of 1:58.70, winning the championship heat by 2.57 seconds. Sims placed fourth behind her while Malone was fifth and Launer eighth. Pettibone had a nice consolation final swim, cutting 2.23 seconds from her morning effort to move up to 10th overall with a career-best 2:04.65.
With all of the fireworks in the meet, Northwestern saved its best for last. Winsnes began the final 400 free relay with a 49.48 100 free split to take out the pool record of 49.65. NU continued to push from there via Malone, Keane and Warren (a team of three freshmen and a sophomore), eventually touching in a pool record time of 3:20.41 that smashed the old mark of 3:22.19 set by Missouri in 2012. NU won the race by 6.44 seconds.
Air Force
The Air Force women’s swimming team placed third at the TYR Invitational at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., Sunday, Nov. 23. Northwestern won the meet with 1287.5 points while Michigan State was second (856) and Air Force was third (614.5). Illinois Chicago was fourth (358), St. Louis was fifth (298.5), Truman State was sixth (279.5) and Northern Iowa was seventh (71).
On the final day of the three-day meet, Air Force opened with a bang. Sophomore Genevieve Miller won the 1650 freestyle with an NCAA “B” cut time of 16:22.16. Sara Menke was fifth in the same event with a time of 16:51.60.
In the 50 butterly, two Falcons qualified for the championship final and placed in the top three. Freshman Elise Hart won the meet with a time of 24.59 while fellow freshman Maria Schroeder was third (24.98).
In the 200 backstroke, sophomore Alex Kronberger was fifth with a time of 2:03.73 in the championship final. In the 100 free championship final, freshman Jinan Andrews was sixth (52.26) and fellow freshman Brianna Mount was fifth in the consolation final (52.63).
Senior Kim Davis won the 200 breaststroke with an NCAA “B” cut time of 2:14.93. Junior Leah Weber was eighth in the same championship final (2:22.00). In the consolation final of the 200 breaststroke, Kira Schlosberg won with a time of 2:20.65).
Schroeder was third in the championship final of the 200 fly (2:02.66) while Jenna Tasic was seventh in the same event (2:05.24). Freshman Asia Antoniuk was fourth in the consolation final of the 200 fly (2:06.70).
In the 400 free relay, the team of Davis, Schroeder, Miller and Andrews was second with time of 3:26.85.
Air Force is now off until the USA National Championships in Greensboro, N.C., Dec. 4-6.
