Northwestern University Athletics
No. 4 Michigan, Wisconsin Visit Norris Aquatics Center
11/15/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Swimming and Diving
Nov. 15, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill. -- No. 17 Northwestern faces its fourth ranked opponent of the dual-meet season in No. 4 Michigan, and also takes on Wisconsin -- a team receiving votes -- in double-dual action Nov. 16-17 at the Norris Aquatics Center.
The meet will follow Big Ten and NCAA Championships format over three sessions of competition. Things get underway at 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 16, with the second session starting at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 17. The final session begins at 5 p.m. Saturday evening. Though the meet is in invitational format, dual-meet scoring still will be used.
NU is 1-3 this season after dropping dual-meet decisions to No. 13 Purdue, No. 7 Indiana and No. 25 Texas A&M this year. Despite the losing record, the Wildcats moved up a notch to No. 17 in the most recent College Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) poll due to their performance against those ranked foes.
NU's perfect 8-0 dual-meet record in 2006-07 included victories over both Wisconsin and Michigan, and those two teams are out for revenge this weekend in Evanston. The Wolverines and Badgers both have 3-1 records thus far this year.
Junior Eric Nilsson (Weston, Mass./Weston) is shouldering much of the burden for Northwestern this year, finding himself atop the earlier-season top-times list in the 200, 500 and 1000 free events, as well as both the 200 and 400 individual medleys.
Senior Kyle Bubolz (Waukesha, Wis./Waukesha North) already has an NCAA 'B' provisional qualifying standard in his signature race, the 100 fly, while also assuming backstroking duties from graduated three-time NCAA champion Matt Grevers.
Senior Bruno Barbic (Zagreb, Croatia/V. Gymnazija) continues to hold down the sprint free events for the 'Cats, currently boasting NU's best times of the year in both the 50 and 100 free races.
The NU women also are in action this weekend at the Norris Aquatics Center, taking on Wisconsin and Notre Dame at the same time as the men's meet.
