Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern Takes Youth, Depth to Big Ten Championships
2/6/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Feb. 6, 2007
Northwestern's Big Ten Championships Notes in PDF Format
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern enters this weekend's Big Ten Championships in Minneapolis, Minn., with about as much depth and youthful talent as it has fielded in recent years. Without a senior swimmer on the squad, seven different Wildcats and two relays still earned 17 NCAA `B' provisional qualification times during the dual-meet portion of the schedule, showcasing much promise heading into this weekend's Championships.
The meet begins at 11 a.m. Thursday morning, Feb. 8, and will continue through the finals starting at 7 p.m. Saturday night, Feb. 10.
To watch live results and a LIVE WEBCAST of the 2007 Big Ten Women's Swimming and Diving Championships, link to Gophersports.com.
While the talk of the town has been the ability of its freshmen, Northwestern's veterans have done an admirable job of leading this squad.
Two-time All-American Andrea Hupman (Lawrenceville, Ga./Brookwood) enters the Big Ten meet with the No. 2 seed in the 100 free, the No. 3 seed in the 200 free and the No. 11 seed in the 50 free. The junior has three second-team All-Big Ten honors to her name after twice finishing second in the 100 free and earning a second-place finish in the 200 as a sophomore.
Two other upperclassmen have top-10 seeds in their respective strokes, with junior Jessie Bailis (Omaha, Neb./Millard North) earning the No. 4 seed in the 100 breast and junior Katie Braun (Edina, Minn./Edina) taking the eighth seed in the 100 fly.
Back for her second Big Ten meet after taking second place in the 200 breast a year ago is Hayley Fry (Marion, Iowa/Linn-Mar), who is the 11th seed in the 200 and the 13th seed in the 100 breast.
Leading the freshmen charge is distance freestyler Kassia Shishkoff (Raleigh, N.C./St. David's School), who earlier in the season earned a Collegeswimming.com and Swimming World Magazine National Swimmer of the Week honor. She has the No. 3 seed in the 500 free, the No. 4 seed in the 1,650 free and the No. 11 seed in the 400 IM.
Also seeded in the top-16 among the freshmen are Emily Wong (Nepean, Ontario/St. Joseph's) in the 100 free (3rd), 200 free (6th) and 50 free (12th); Rachel Rys (Goleta, Calif./Dos Pueblos) in the 200 fly (8th) and 100 fly (9th); Jenn Kocsis (Omaha, Neb./Marian) in the 500 free (12th) and 1,650 free (12th); Genny Szymanski (Haines, Alaska/Haines) in the 200 back (12th); and Mary Beth Francis (San Diego, Calif./Mission Viejo) in the 1,650 free (13th).
Northwestern finished the dual-meet season with a misleading 3-6 overall record, plowing through a schedule so tough that NU got 30 votes in the latest CSCAA coaches poll to finish just two spots outside of the top-25. All six of NU's losses came to teams that were ranked at one point during the year.
For Northwestern's complete Big Ten Championships notes package, click on the .pdf link at the top of the page.
