Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern Set to Swim at Big Ten Championships
2/19/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving
Feb. 19, 2008
Northwestern's Big Ten Championship Notes (PDF Format) 
EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern enters this weekend's Big Ten Championships with high hopes of fast times, building on a season that has seen career-best efforts from upperclassmen while the 'Cats' talented underclassmen infuse talent and depth into NU's lineup.
The meet runs from Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 21-23, at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion in Columbus, Ohio. For live results from the meet, link to .
Last season saw NU earn four All-Big Ten honors, its most since the 2000 season. The Wildcats' 800 free relay finished second at the meet with the help of three then-freshmen on the squad. This year, NU enters the meet following a 6-4 dual-meet season, with all losses coming against ranked foes.
"The team is coming off its last meet on a real positive note with some sharp performances against Ohio State," head coach Jimmy Tierney says. "The excitement surrounding senior meet added some extra motivation to perform well, especially as the last meet before Big Tens. Except for the Michigan meet, we were very competitive and exhibited great team spirit against all Big Ten opponents this year."
Youth again is the buzzword for Northwestern in 2008, with a healthy class of 11 freshmen complementing NU's group of eight sophomores who burst onto the scene a year ago. A freshman or sophomore holds NU's top time in eight different events and none of the Wildcats' top relays have fewer than two underclassmen on the squad this year.
It has been the seniors, however, stepping up to lead Northwestern in 2008, especially Katie Braun (Edina, Minn./Edina). The butterfly specialist already has broken her career bests in the 100 fly and 200 fly, earning NCAA `B' provisional qualifying times in both. Classmate and U.S. National Team member Andrea Hupman (Lawrenceville, Ga./Brookwood) has her usual NCAA `B' times in all of the sprint freestyle events. Hupman has been an All-Big Ten honoree in each of her previous three seasons with NU.
"We have been delighted with the performances of the seniors this year," Tierney says. "Katie Braun has been outstanding all year with lifetime best performances already. Andrea Hupman has been so steady for us over the years and knows how to raise her level of performance for the big stage. Leanne Dumais has also seen her share of high-level competition and performed very well against Big Ten competition which gives us all confidence for her being ready this week."
Sophomore Kassia Shishkoff (Raleigh, N.C./St. David's School) has the Wildcats' best times in all of the distance freestyle events and in both individual medley races, earning NCAA `B' cuts in the 500 free, 1,650 free and 400 IM. All told, five different Wildcats have NCAA `B' cuts in eight different events this year.
Tierney especially is optimistic about being able to use the team's depth to put together strong relay showings. Both the 200 free relay and the 400 medley relay have NCAA `B' efforts this season, while the 800 free relay is the defending silver medalist at the Big Ten Championships, qualifying for the NCAA meet a year ago.
"Our relays should be even better this year," Tierney says. "We have more good swimmers to choose from and veterans to lead us. We can be very competitive in every relay and can give ourselves a shot at making NCAA's in more than one for the first time in years."
In diving, Northwestern returns redshirt senior Leanne Dumais (Ventura, Calif./Buena) to the fold after she missed last season. Dumais has been NU's top diver during the year and brings with her a wealth of conference championships experience.
