Northwestern built a large lead midway through its season-opening meet Friday against Illinois at the Norris Aquatics Center before thwarting all Illini attempts at a comeback late in a 160-140 Wildcats' victory.
Northwestern actually won fewer events in the meet than Illinois with seven victories to the Illini's nine, but NU's depth in the wins and the losses proved to be the difference. Four times in the meet the Wildcats swept the top two spots in an event while twice they went 1-2-3. Meanwhile, four of Illinois' victories were mitigated severely by 2-3-4 Northwestern finishes behind the victor.
Sophomore Ellen Stello (Shorewood, Wis./Shorewood) had the most impressive swim in the opening meet for NU, crushing her collegiate-best in the 200 fly by nearly a full second in just her first outing of the season. Meanwhile, on the diving boards, freshman Monique Demaisip (Norwalk, Calif./Gahr) made little waves with a big showing on the 1-meter board, already qualifying for NCAA Zones in the event with a resounding win.
"We had some freshmen really step up and show good things in their first meet," head coach Jimmy Tierney said. "Ellen's swim in the 200 was far and way the best of the entire meet, too. We still have a lot to work on moving forward especially with our relays, but it was good to get the opening win today."
Northwestern opened the meet with a 2-3 finish in the 200 medley relay, with the Wildcats' `B' squad out-touching Illinois' by two one-hundredths of a second for third place in an early win in the battle for points. NU's `A' team of sophomore Lacey Locke (Carmel, Ind./Carmel), junior Julianne Kurke (Atlanta, Ga./Parkview), freshman Aja Malone (Acworth, Ga./Allatoona) and freshman Mary Warren (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) touched in 1:44.76 for second place, .64 of a second behind the Illini's winning time. The Wildcats `B' unit of junior Karen Turner (Lake Oswego, Ore./Lakeridge), sophomore Katie Branch (Phoenix, Ariz./Horizon Honors), senior Valerie Nubbe (Huntsville, Ala./Huntsville) and junior Julia Pratt (Vincennes, Ind./Vincennes Rivet) finished in 1:47.44, just ahead of the Illini's 1:47.46 thanks to a strong touch from the 6-foot-1 frame of Pratt.
The Wildcats dominated in the first individual event, getting a 1-2 finish from sophomore Lauren Abruzzo (Denver, Colo./Kent Denver) and junior Ellen Anderson (Montgomery Village, Md./Gaithersburg). Abruzzo paced the race and finished in 10:08.58 while Anderson followed close behind.
Sophomore Annika Winsnes (Singapore/United World College) was Northwestern's top finisher in the 200 free with a second-place time of 1:52.11. In the 100 back, Illinois again came out on top when its lead swimmer posted an NCAA `B' provisional qualifying time of 54.81, but Locke led a procession of Wildcats in second through fourth to keep the team score deficit to just a single point in the event. Locke posted a 56.61 to lead Northwestern followed by Melissa Postoll (Acworth, Ga./Kennesaw Mountain) in third (58.57) and Turner in fourth (59.40).
With the Illini now in the lead, Northwestern wrestled it back in a big way with wins in the next three events heading into the meet's first break. First, Kurke charged hard from a 50-yard deficit to lead a 1-3 NU finish in the 100 breast with a 1:04.21. Branch took third-place points in 1:05.39.
The Wildcats then got a dominating 1-2-3 team finish in the 200 fly, led by a dominating individual performance from the sophomore Stello, who led NU in the 200 fly last season as a freshman with a top season time of 2:01.74. She shattered that with a collegiate-best 2:00.80 Friday to crush the field by 5.65 seconds. Freshman Maddy Sims (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove) and her classmate Malone took second and third, respectively, for NU.
Northwestern repeated its 1-2-3 performance in the 50 free, led by Warren's time of 23.66 that topped the field by .46 of a second. Winsnes took second in 24.12, just in front of her teammate Pratt's third-place 24.13. That effort gave Northwestern an 84-66 lead at the halfway point of the meet.
During that first half of the meet, Illinois took first on the 3-meter diving board followed by Northwestern freshman Demaisip's second-place score of 255.53.
Coming out of the break, Winsnes held off a pair of Illinois challengers to win the 100 free in 51.85 with Warren in fourth and Nubbe in fifth also grabbing points for the Wildcats.
Locke dominated the 200 back by 4.2 seconds to lead a 1-2 Northwestern finish in that event. Locke's time of 2:02.06 was the best in the pool followed by her teammate Postoll's 2:05.26 in second.
Illinois got its first win in a while in the 200 breast, but Northwestern was right there in second, third and fourth to keep the Illini point gain to just one. Kurke was second in 2:20.46 to lead the Wildcats followed by Georgie Pettibone (Santa Rosa, Calif./Analy) in third and Branch in fourth.
The Illini continued to chip away at the solid Wildcats' lead after the 200 breast, getting wins in the 500 free and 100 fly. Anderson was second in the 500 free with a 5:00.42 to lead Northwestern, while three Wildcats finished in second, third and fourth in the 100 fly. Malone led that convoy of `Cats in 56.24, just ahead of Stello and Sims.
During the second diving break, the freshman Demaisip announced her presence in the program in a major way. The newcomer won the 1-meter board by over 23 points with a score of 265.95, a total that already qualifies her for the 2015 NCAA Zone meet and came just 1.95 points away from the NU school record of 267.90 set by Ashley Carter in 2003.
For the fourth time in the meet, Northwestern marginalized an Illinois win with a 2-3-4 performance to end the individual racing in the 200 IM. While the Illini got the first touch, the Wildcats followed with Stello, Locke and Abruzzo on the wall to ice the victory.
In the final event, Illinois captured the 400 free relay with a time of 3:26.76. NU's `A' team of Nubbe, Warren, Erika Elliott (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) and Winsnes finished second in 3:27.44 while the `B' squad of Katherine Senseman (Terre Haute, Ind./Terre Haute South Vigo), Malone, Anna Keane (Edmonds, Wash./Meadowdale) and Pratt grabbed third in 3:32.97, two tenths of a second ahead of Illinois' `B' team.
Northwestern returns to the Norris Aquatics Center next Saturday, Oct. 25, in a combined dual with the men against UIC and Oakland.
The Illinois swimming and diving team dropped its first meet of the season, falling to Northwestern, 160-140, Friday night in Evanston. However, the Illini still took home nine first-place finishes in the season opener.
“I was really happy with how they competed,” head coach Sue Novitsky said. “I thought that on the boards and in the pool we were competing well. We had opportunities to pull off the win in this meet.”
Senior Alison Meng played a role in four of the Illini’s first-places finishes on the night. In the 100 back, Meng touched the wall first in a time of 54.81, an NCAA “B” cut time and the fifth-fastest performance by an Illini in the event. Meng claimed her second individual first-place finish at the meet in the 100 fly (55.56). Meng also led off the winning 200 medley relay and 400 free relay.
Freshmen Samantha Stratford, junior Lori Lynn and senior Megan Marchuk rounded out the 200 medley relay team that claimed victory with a time of 1:44.12. In the winning 400 free relay, sophomore Gabbie Stecker and freshmen Gabrielle Bethke would join Meng and Marchuk to swim a time of 3:26.76. Stecker claimed multiple individual victories for the Illini on the night as well, finishing first in both the 200 free (1:51.41) and 500 free (4:58.10).
Newcomers Stratford and Bethke were quick to make an impression in the Orange and Blue. Stratford was the fastest in the 200 breast (2:18.90) and 200 IM (2:04.27), good for eighth on Illinois’ all-time list, while also taking second in the 100 breast (1:04.49), placing her 10th on Illinois’ top-10 list. Bethke placed second in the 100 free (52.58) and fourth in the 50 free (24.26) in her collegiate debut.
“They had some great races,” Novitsky said of Stratford and Bethke. “It was great to see from them. They were very nervous before the meet, but they were able to step up and were able to stay calm. They were able to race well and cleaned some things up as the meet went on so they only got better with each event.”
Illinois’ third-place finishers included sophomore Amelia Schilling in the 500 free (4:58.10) and 1000 free (10:18.01), freshman Sascha Meyers in the 200 free (1:53.56), Marchuk in the 100 free (52.61) and junior Sloane McDermott in the 200 back (2:07.60).
The Illini swimmers who finished fourth individually on the night were Marchuk in the 200 free (1:53.56), junior Jennifer Coady in the 100 breast (1:06.60), Lynn in the 200 butterfly (2:06.79) and Kaitlyn Joyce in the 200 back (2:10.74). The Orange and Blue also placed fourth in both relay events, with Stecker, junior Hollie Smith, junior Sarah Sykstus and Bethke in the 200 medley relay (1:47.44), while seniors Sabrinne Gibson and Hailey Booth teamed up with Meyers and Schilling in the 400 free relay (3:33.17).
Also scoring for the Illini with fifth-place finishes were senior Kayla Dlugopolski in the 1000 free (10:27.94), junior Sloane McDermott in the 100 back (59.42), Smith in the 100 breast (1:06.95), Sykstus in the 100 fly (57.16) and 200 fly (2:06.85), Lynn in the 200 IM (2:09.63) and Coady in the 200 breast (2:24.94).
On the boards, sophomore Olivia Kassouni took first place in the three-meter dive (272.55), while senior Erika Murphy finished in third (246.53) and freshmen Raquel Corniuk placed fourth (232.73) in the event. In the one-meter dive, Murphy took second with a score of 242.63.
“We have to go back to work, and there are a lot of things we have to keep working on,” Novitsky said. “Our turns could have been a lot better. We got out-touched at the wall and we just need to work on cleaning up those details and try to keep focus.”
The Illini will return to action against Illinois State and Southern Illinois on Saturday, November 1st at 10 a.m. CT in Normal, Ill.
