Northwestern
NCAA Championships
Wildcats In Sixth At NCAA Championships
3/24/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
March 24, 2005
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- Fifteenth-ranked Northwestern earned a fourth-place finish in the 400 medley relay to jump from ninth to sixth place after the first day of the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in Minneapolis.
The Wildcats' 400-medley relay team finished with a time of 3:08.33, breaking the Northwestern school record.
The fourth-place finish does not even begin to explain how close the 'Cats came to victory. After Kyle Bubolz's butterfly leg of the relay, the Wildcats were leading the event by a little less than a second. David Kormushoff was unable to hold off the tough field and the 'Cats finished fourth.
The fourth-place finish earned the Wildcats 30 points as they look to place in the top-10 at this year's Championships.
"That is our best time of the year," Northwestern Head Coach Bob Groseth said. "It is the highest finish in school history at the NCAA Championships for the 400 medley relay and gives some important points and momentum heading into tomorrow."
Also aided by three other top-10 finishes, Northwestern finds itself in sixth place with 69 points after day one. The Wildcats are 17 points behind fifth-place Florida and four ahead of seventh-place Minnesota.
"Overall we had a solid day," Groseth said. "We were hoping to get our 200 freestyle relay into the top eight but we held our own in the consolation finals."
In the first event of the evening, the 'Cats set the tone by winning the consolation final of the 200 freestyle relay with a time of 1:18.58. The win earned Northwestern its first 18 points of the Championships.
Mike Alexandrov continued the trend when he earned ninth place in the 200 IM by winning the consolation final. Alexandrov pulled away from the pack with a strong breast leg and touched the wall in 1:45.74. Alexandrov's swim earned the 'Cats another nine points.
Alexandrov's finish this year was two spots better than last year, when he finished 11th in the same event.
"I was happy with Mike's performance," Groseth said. "Winning the 200 IM from lane one is a very difficult thing to do."
The Wildcats' third top-10 finish came from Matt Grevers, who finished seventh in the 50 free with a time of 19.55. Grevers put himself in a position to win when he made the turn in third place, but strong swimming by NCAA record-holder Peter Bousquet secured the victory.
Grevers' finish earned the 'Cats another 12 points. The 50 free was Grevers' second championship final heat as an individual at the NCAA Championships.
"Matt did a good job of holding his position from the prelims and earning us some needed points," Groseth said.
To see how stiff the competition is at these NCAA Championships, all you have to do is look at the plethora of NCAA records that are being broken. Two more records were broken tonight, with California setting a record time of 1:15.78 in the 200 freestyle relay and Florida's Ryan Lochte setting a record in the 200 IM with a time of 1:41.74.
Day two of the NCAA Championships begins tomorrow (March 25) in Minneapolis with the preliminaries starting at noon. The Wildcats will look to improve upon their standing with four top-six seeds in action. Grevers leads the way as he is ranked second in the 100 back, Bubolz is ranked third in the 100 fly, the 200 medley relay team is ranked fourth, and Alexandrov is ranked sixth in the 100 breast.
For results and complete Championships coverage, visit the Division I NCAA Championships Web site.
Players Mentioned
