Northwestern
NCAA Championships
Northwestern Finishes 11th at NCAA Championships
3/27/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
March 27, 2004
LONG ISLAND, N.Y. -- Northwestern finished in 11th place Saturday at the NCAA Championships in Long Island, N.Y., just a half-point behind 10th-place Georgia. The Wildcats earned 13 All-America honors at the three-day meet, the most in school history.
"We knew we could be a player in the NCAA Championships coming into this year, and we achieved that," Northwestern head coach Bob Groseth said. "The attitude this team has shown all year has been fantastic and it really paid off in the end."
Leading the way for NU was freshman Matt Grevers (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest), who earned All-America honors in the 100-meter backstroke, finishing sixth, and Honorable Mention All-America nods in the 50- and 100-meter freestyle events.
Grevers and Tony Swanson (Coon Rapids, Minn./Coon Rapids) were also members of the 200- and 400-meter freestyle and 200- and 400-meter medley relay squads, all of which earned All-America status for the Wildcats.
Joining Grevers as a three-time All-American was fellow freshman Mike Alexandrov (Champaign, Ill./Centennial), who earned Honorable Mention All-America honors in the 100-meter breaststroke and the 200- and 400-meter individual medleys.
With their combined six All-American awards, Alexandrov and Grevers were the most successful freshmen duo at the Championships.
Swanson, a senior, earned a pair of Honorable Mention All-America awards in the 100-meter butterfly and the 200-meter individual medley for the 'Cats. Swanson has now earned six total individual All-America awards during his career at NU.
Northwestern's 800-meter freestyle relay team also achieved Honorable Mention All-American status.
Also competing as part of NU's All-American relays were Ben Dexter (Indianapolis, Ind./Roncalli) in the 200-meter freestyle, 400-meter freestyle and the 200-meter medley; Mark Hamming (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) in the 400-meter medley and the 800-meter freestyle; Brian Davis (Issaquah, Wash./Issaquah) in the 800-meter freestyle; Louis Torres (Morton Grove, Ill./Niles West) in the 200-meter medley and Matt Wever (Boise, Idaho/Boise) in the 200-, 400- and 800-meter freestyle.
Northwestern entered the final day of competition in ninth place overall. The 400-meter freestyle relay of Swanson, Alexandrov, Dexter and Grevers posted the day's best finish for the 'Cats, placing 10th in 3:17.26. Grevers added his third All-American performance to his Championships' resume with a 12th-place showing Saturday in the 100-meter freestyle.
Hamming in the 200-meter butterfly (20th), Davis in the 1650-meter freestyle (27th), Torres in the 200-meter breaststroke (28th) and Swanson in the 200-meter backstroke also swam on the meet's final day.
More information and final results can be found by linking to the NCAA Championships.
Players Mentioned
