Northwestern Falls in Home Opener to Purdue, 168-132

11/5/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Swimming and Diving

Nov. 5, 2010

Results

Site: Evanston, Ill. (Norris Aquatics Center)
Score: Purdue 168, Northwestern 139
Records: Northwestern (0-2, 0-2 Big Ten), Purdue (2-0, 1-0 Big Ten)
Next NU Event: Nov. 6, 2010 -- vs. UW-Milwaukee, UIC, North Dakota (Evanston, Ill.), 1 p.m. CT

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Northwestern scored plenty of points with tightly bunched finishes in the middle of the packs Friday against Purdue at the Norris Aquatics Center, but the Wildcats could not match the Boilermakers' top-end speed in a 168-132 loss in NU's 2010-11 home opener.

Early on in the meet, sophomore Felicitas Lenz (Altadena, Calif./Polytechnic School) won the 3-meter springboard with a 301.35, cracking the 300-point barrier in a dual meet for the second-straight time this year and the fourth time in her career.

Purdue opened the swimming events by winning the 200 medley relay by .30 of a second over Northwestern's 1:43.92. The team of Liza Engstrom (Reno, Nev./Robert McQueen), Emily Russart (Lake Geneva, Wis./Badger), Katie Eschenburg (Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) and Taylor Reynolds (St. Louis, Mo./Webster Groves) received a blazing 28.11 50 breast split from Russart, but it was not enough to overcome the Boilermakers.

Purdue's top swimmer in the 1,000 free ran away from the field with a sub-10:00 finish, but NU's Beth Loe (Upper Arlington, Ohio/Upper Arlington), Megan Goss (Brentwood, Tenn./Ravenwood) and Erin Sosdian (The Woodlands, Texas/Woodlands College Park) came in second, third and fourth, respectively. Loe's second-place 10:14.97 was more than 2.5 seconds quicker than her time in Northwestern's season-opening meet at Indiana two weeks ago.

After Purdue swept the top-two spots in both the 200 free and 100 back, Russart claimed the 100 breast title with a 1:03.42. She trailed at the 50-yard mark to Purdue's Emily Fogle before turning it on to win by .52 of a second. Junior Kathleen Patterson (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) was third with a 1:04.68.

Northwestern showed off its depth in the 200 fly, if not its top-end speed. After Purdue's top swimmer in the event won, the Wildcats turned in the next four quickest times. Meghan Cavanaugh (Anchorage, Alaska/East Anchorage) led the way for NU in second place with a 2:02.80. She was followed by point scorers Hannah Points (Tualatin, Ore./Tualatin) in third and Meredith King (Louisville, Ky./duPont Manual) in fourth.

Purdue won the top-two spots in both sprint free events surrounding the mid-meet diving break. In that break, Felicitas Lenz was second on the 1-meter board with a 277.65, followed by teammates Carlin Dacey (West Roxbury, Mass./Choate Rosemary Hall) in third and Cosima Lenz (Altadena, Calif./Polytechnic School) in fourth.

Engstrom came in second to lead NU in the 200 back before a tightly packed 2-3-4 finish for the Wildcats in the 200 breast. Patterson was second with a 2:20.10, followed immediately by Points in third with a 2:20.11 and Russart in fourth with a 2:20.36.

Purdue swept the top-two positions in the 500 free, then Cavanaugh won the 100 fly with a time of 56.14. The victory was the second-straight for Cavanaugh over Purdue in that event. Marybeth Hall (Brighton, Mich./Brighton) came in third and Alex Kraus (Birmingham, Ala./Vestavia Hills) was fourth in the 100 fly.

Junior Jacquie Godbe (Rapid City, S.D./Stevens) led a 1-2-3 NU sweep in the 200 IM with a 2:04.85, winning the event by 2.29 seconds over teammates Patterson (2:07.14) and Points (2:07.28). The effort was .71 of a second away from Godbe's career-best time in the event, and it marked her fourth-career dual-meet race win -- second in the 200 IM.

Purdue closed out the meet with a win in the 400 free relay. Freshman Jackie Powell (Madison, Wis./James Madison Memorial), Cavanaugh, Godbe and Reynolds comprised NU's second-place relay, which turned in a time of 3:28.51.

Northwestern returns to action at 1 p.m. CT tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 6, in a quad-meet against UW-Milwaukee, UIC and North Dakota at the Norris Aquatics Center.

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