Northwestern's newcomers, led by a three-win performance by Alex Snarski (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville), helped the Wildcats to a season-opening 161-139 victory over perennial MAC power Eastern Michigan Thursday at the Eagles' Jones Natatorium.
Both of Northwestern's winning relays in the meet had three legs manned by freshmen, and that class also accounted for four individual victories.
"That's why we brought them in," head coach Jarod Schroeder said. "Alex was not far off of his personal bests so we were pretty pleased with his meet."
In addition to the freshmen, junior Jordan Wilimovsky (Malibu, Calif./Malibu) won a pair of races and had a lifetime best in his third while NU's two veteran breaststroke specialists split victories in those events.
"There are still some things we need to work on and we need to get a lot faster for some of our meets later in the fall, but I am proud of the guys for going on the road and racing well in our first time out," Schroeder said.
In an early sign of the talent in the class, Schroeder sent three freshmen out in the Wildcats' `A' 200 medley relay which won the event in 1:31.51, nearly a half second ahead of the Eagles' top squad. Snarski went out on fire with the leadoff backstroke leg to build a .71 cushion over EMU, then senior Uula Auren (Helsinki, Finland/Mäkelänrinteen Lukio), freshman Nick Petersen (Thiensville, Wis./Homestead) and freshman Almog Olshtein (Haifa, Israel/Haifa) cruised in for the win.
Junior U.S. National Team distance swimmer Wilimovsky got his season started in about the fashion one would expect, winning the 1,000 free in 9:14.36 -- a full 26.33 seconds ahead of Eastern Michigan's second-place finisher. Wilimovsky split high 27s and low 28s for the entire race while his competitors rarely got below 29:00 for each 50-yard segment.
Freshman Jonathan Blansfield (Westport, Conn./Staples) took fourth for NU in the 1,000 to earn a pair of points.
The Eagles won the 200 free for their first event victory of the meet, but the Wildcats mitigated the damage with Charlie Cole (Bernardsville, N.J./Bernards), Jonathan Lieberman (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie) and Jack Morris (Lansdale, Pa./North Penn) taking second through fourth, respectively.
Snarski continued to showcase his promise in the 100 backstroke, winning by nearly a full second over sophomore Andy Jovanovic (Chicago, Ill./Loyola Academy), who was runner-up in the event for a 1-2 Northwestern finish. Snarski's 49.75 in the race would have nearly made the cut for inclusion on NU's final top times list of last season.
Auren turned a narrow lead at the 50-yard mark in the 100 breast into a comfortable cushion at the wall to win that event in 56.94 over a trio of EMU swimmers behind him.
In the 200 fly, Eastern Michigan got the win over second-place Wilimovsky, but the Wildcat made a statement of a swim. His time of 1:51.98 would have been the fastest for Northwestern all of last season by .56 of a second and lowered his own collegiate-best in the event by a whopping 2.51 seconds. He previously swam a 1:54.49 against Iowa last January.
"I told Jordan to take it a little easy in the 1,000 since he was going again 10 minutes later in the 200 fly, but he told me `no coach the 1,000 will be a good warm-up'," Schroeder said. Wilimovsky would have a little bit longer rest before going on to win the 500 free later in the meet.
Olshtein gave Northwestern a commanding 74-57 lead going into the first diving break with a 20.90 to win the 50 free by five one-hundredths of a second over Eastern Michigan's Brian Moore. Olshtein's 20.90 would have ranked fifth-fastest on the NU team all of last year. Fellow freshman Gage Kohner (Boca Raton, Fla./Boca Raton Community) took third in 21.23.
Eastern Michigan's Jordan Lesser, who earned All-America status at Minnesota in 2014, won the 3-meter diving board with a 345.08. NU's Andrew Cramer (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral) took second in 332.40 while John Andrade (Avon, Conn./Notre Dame) and Reed Dillon (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence Central) followed in third and fourth.
Coming out of the diving break, EMU cut deeply into NU's lead with a 1-2 finish in the 100 free. Snarski and Jovanovic got a bunch of those points back immediately with a 1-2 effort in the 200 back. Continuing his impressive form in his first collegiate action, Snarski won the race by almost two full seconds with a time of 1:49.50, which would have placed him third on NU's final top times list in the event one year ago.
The best racing of the day occurred in the 200 breast, which Northwestern junior Van Donkersgoed (Eden Prairie, Minn./Minnehaha Academy) pulled out by two one-hundredths of a second over Eastern Michigan's Ryan Fisher with a 2:06.97. Donkersgoed went out fast and opened a large advantage in the race, leading by 1.14 seconds at the 150-yard mark. At that point, Donkersgoed began to fade while Fisher began a super-human charge that Donkersgoed was able to thwart just at the wall for the victory.
Wilimovsky cruised to a four-second victory over teammate Cole in the 500 free to put Northwestern up by 20 points, 123-103. Though EMU would win the ensuing 100 fly, NU junior Grant Halsall (Laxey, Isle of Man, GBR) and Petersen kept the Wildcats' lead at 15 points by taking second and third with times of 50.30 and 51.34, respectively.
During the second diving break, EMU went 1-2 on the 1-meter board to cut the Wildcats' advantage down to just eight points. Northwestern, however, shut the door with a 1-2 result of its own in the 200 IM led by the third individual win of the meet for Snarski in 1:53.77. Halsall grabbed second place in 1:55.49.
In the final 400 free relay, the über young three freshmen, one sophomore relay of Olshtein, Petersen, Kohner and Jovanovic took first place with a 3:05.31 to account for the final score.
Northwestern returns to Evanston next Saturday, Oct. 25, in a combined dual with the women against UIC and Oakland.
