Northwestern University Athletics
Men's Swimming and Diving Heads To Big Ten Championships
2/27/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Feb. 27, 2002
EVANSTON, Ill. - Last season the Northwestern men's swimming and diving team finished fifth in the Big Ten Championships, something that had not been done in the program since 1973. This season, the 'Cats (6-1, 2-1 Big Ten) look to defend their top-five finish and possibly rewrite history again.
The competition in Bloomington, Ind. will be stiff. Five of the teams competing are nationally ranked, including No. 16 Wisconsin, the only team to beat NU this season. Defending conference champion Minnesota is currently sixth in the country.
If last season is any indication, NU's swimmers will be performing season-best times at the championships. In 2001, every Wildcat that competed had season-best times in at least one event and several in multiple events.
The 'Cats are accustomed to coming in first these days, handily defeating six dual opponents in the regular season. Led by All-Americans Kellan O'Connor (Phoenix, Ariz./Brophy Prep) and Tony Swanson (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids), who each have a pair of opponents' pool records to their credit this season, NU has recorded six NCAA "B" standard times so far, with a chance for more this weekend.
Since 1914, Northwestern has garnered 10 Big Ten Championships and a total of 75 individual champions in swimming and diving. The last conference title for the 'Cats came in 1930.
The three-day event begins Feb. 28. Each day will feature preliminaries at noon and finals at 7 p.m. in the Counsilman Billingsly Aquatic Center at Indiana University.
Click here to view Northwestern's complete Big Ten Championships notes in PDF format.
