Northwestern
Big Ten Championships
Men's Swimming Completes Day Two at Big Ten Championships
2/23/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Feb. 23, 2001
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The Northwestern men's swimming and diving squad completed its second day of competition at the Big Ten Championships in Minneapolis, Minn., on Friday. The Wildcats are currently tied for seventh place with Purdue at 199 points with one day of competition left. Minnesota leads all schools with 549 points, followed by Penn State and Michigan (378), Wisconsin (240), Ohio State (211) and Indiana (207).
The Wildcats set two school records in Friday's prelims. Freshman Aaron McCracken (Naperville, Ill./Central) swam a 54.49 in the 100 breaststroke to set the new NU mark and automatically qualify to the NCAA Championships in that event. On Friday evening in the final, he swam a 54.90 to finish sixth.
Freshman Tony Swanson (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids) carried over his success from Day One with another record-setting performance Friday. One day after setting the school's 200 individual medley record, he set the 400 IM record in his first time ever swimming the event. His time of 3:51.48 in prelims broke the record previously held by Todd Capen (3:52.99 in 1999). Swanson swam 3:53.05 in the final Friday night to finish in eighth.
Steve Steketee (Golden, Colo./Golden), Kellan O'Connor (Phoenix, Ariz./Brophy Preparatory) and Mark Hamming (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) all swam in consolation finals Friday evening. Steketee took 10th place in the 200 freestyle (1:37.55), O'Connor finished 11th in the 100 butterfly (58.73), and Mark Hamming punched in at 14th in the 400 IM (3:56.89).
The 800 freestyle relay of Swanson, Mike Shue (Ft. Myers, Fla./Ft. Myers), Shelby Clark (Aurora, Colo./Smoky Hills) and Steketee finished fourth with an NCAA qualifying B standard of 6:34.21. The 200 medley relay of O'Connor, McCracken, Adam Kennedy (Flossmoor, Ill./Homewood-Flossmoor) and Nick Barnes (Frankfort, Ind./Frankfort) finished seventh in a time of 1:30.20.
Competition concludes Saturday with prelims starting at noon and finals at 7 p.m. Events scheduled include the 1650 freestyle, 200 backstroke, 100 freestyle, 200 breaststroke, 200 butterfly, platform diving and the 400 freestyle relay.
WILDCAT FINISHES IN FINALS
400 individual medley - Tony Swanson 3:53.05 (8th), Mark Hamming 3:56.89 (14th).
100 butterfly - Kellan O'Connor 48.73 (11th).
200 freestyle - Steve Steketee 1:37.55 (10th).
100 breaststroke - Aaron McCracken 54.90 (6th).
3-meter diving - Elliot Massuda 417.00 (17th), Adam Barker 413.20 (19th).
200 medley relay - Kellan O'Connor, Aaron McCracken, Adam Kennedy, Nick Barnes 1:30.20 (7th).
800 freestyle relay - Tony Swanson, Mike Shue, Shelby Clark, Steve Steketee 6:34.21 (4th).
